


Septnautical (A Jacksepticeye Subnautica Merman AU)

by Huffledork



Series: Septnautical [1]
Category: Jacksepticeye Power Hour (Web Series), Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Blood, Death, Disease, Experimentation, Fluff and Angst, Mind Control, Multi, OC characters, Swearing, Torture, Whump, alternative universe, implied suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 70,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28565514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huffledork/pseuds/Huffledork
Summary: Far in the future on Planet 4546-B, the currents are stirring with trouble after a couple decades of silence following the curing of the Kharaa. A team of researchers from the Altera Arms come back to the planet to perform further experiments. While searching the Degasi ruins they find the mysterious body of Sean McLoughlin frozen in stasis, with a slit throat. They take his DNA and do something they previously thought was unthinkable... they created hybrids. Part Human, Part fish.Seven subjects were created from the former crewmate: RR-001 (Chase) the Rabbit Ray Hybrid, SE-002 (Jack) the Sea Emperor Hybrid, SH-003 (Schneep/Henrik) the Stalker Hybrid, SD-004 (Anti) the Sea Dragon Hybrid, WH-005 (Marvin) the Warper Hybrid, RL-006 (Jackie) the Reaper Hybrid and CH-007 (Jameson) the Cuddlefish Hybrid.The subjects lived in the testing base, subjected to often cruel and unethical experiments. Until one day when they find themselves suddenly able to escape.They escape into the open ocean- able to freely grow and explore the planet together.Until one fateful day... when a new threat arises- and the Alterans hunt for the hybrid they believe can save them all.
Series: Septnautical [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092983
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. Where it all Began

The septic brothers were out playing in the safe shallows, basking in the warm blue light shining from above. Jamie and Jack were rushing around, hiding from each other in the reefs, before jumping out and chasing the other. Their laughter spread throughout the entire clearing. Henrik and Chase were huddled close, watching the others while lounging in a particularly large ray of sunshine. Jackie had actually fallen asleep next to Chase, curled up in the warm sand. Anti wasn’t too far off, digging around in the reefs and reeds to find treasures to play with. Marvin was watching Anti and warping objects he’d already found back into his path, causing the little sea dragon to scream in frustration. Marvin just cackled from his hiding place.

It had been so long since any of them had seen the white suits. They considered themselves free of them forever. Until they heard the distant rumble of a sea moth coming their way. Chase instantly perked up and he quickly shook Henrik’s shoulder.

“S-Schneep…” he sputtered. “Something’s coming…!”

Henrik rose up onto his arms and look back towards the deep water, and spotted the telltale sign of headlights breaking through the dark. He swam up quickly grabbing Chase’s arm and yanking him up with him.

“Guys!” Schneep shouted down towards his playing brothers, “White suits!! Take cover!!”

Anti and Marvin poked their heads out of the reefs, eyes wide with fright. Anti quickly dumped his armful of goodies and tore off to a deeper part of the reefs, Marvin close behind.

Jack and Jamie though were too far away and too consumed with their game to notice. Henrik tried to shake Jackie awake while Chase swam after Marvin and Anti. The small reaper whined quietly, refusing to open his eyes and end his nap.

Henrik was panicking, head whipping from Jackie to the unaware younger brothers playing.

“C’mon Jackie! Wake up!!” Henrik whispered, furiously shaking him awake. Jackie’s blue eyes opened and had just a second to see before bright white light blinded him. Schneep quickly grabbed him by his hood and yanked him behind the reef and out of sight.

The white suits thundered down onto the seabed, kicking up sand and dirt with their heavy footsteps. They never swam, making them all the scarier. They just pushed through the water in their sickly white suits. You could never see their faces, hidden behind their breathing masks. They stomped through the reefs recklessly, not caring what they crushed beneath their boots.

Jackie, now fully awake, and hidden behind the rocks with Henrik, watched as the white suits marched forward, eyes set on Jack and Jamie.

“Jac-!” Jackie tried to cry but Schneep quickly came up behind him and covered his mouth, hoping to keep them hidden. Anti was only a few feet away hiding behind another rock, watching the scene with wide eyes.

Jamie was the first to notice the approaching shapes as they loomed overhead. He silently screamed, quickly rushing to Jack’s side and yanking on his arm to try to get away. Jack looked at him with confusion and looked towards the white suits right as one reached down towards them.

Jamie quickly covered up Jack with his body, wrapping his legs around his brother protectively. The white suit grabbed Jamie and forcefully pried the small cuddlefish away, sending him flying into one of the crags nearby. He hit the rocks with a loud crash and yelped quietly in pain as he tumbled and fell into the sand.

Jack growled and wriggled in the white suit’s arms, trying to break free. The researcher had Jack by the arm, holding him tight and it produced a syringe from its bag that was filled with a sickly white liquid. He tugged Jack towards him and stuck the syringe painfully into Jack’s neck, causing the little merman to yell in pain. Almost immediately, Jack’s eyes began to droop and the fight drained out of him. The white suit moved to hold Jack up but was stopped by a flurry of colors.

Anti, Jamie, and Jackie all sprang at the white suit at once, causing the scientist to drop Jack back into the sea bed. He rolled and lay too still in the sand, barely able to keep his eyes open. Jamie quickly saw this and rushed to his brother’s side trying to wake him up.

Anti chomped onto the white suit's arm, sharp fangs sinking through the fabric to its flesh. The researcher yelled in fury and grabbed Anti by the hair, throwing him down to land next to his brothers. The white suit looked ready to attack but Jackie quickly got in front of the other three and roared his most terrifying roar, baring his fangs towards their enemy.

He willed his mandibles to grow but the little weapons on his back refused to budge. He roared again, standing his ground against the researcher, who stared at the little reaper slightly intrigued. Jackie figured this was his chance.

“Anti, take Jamie and hide!” Jackie screeched behind him, towards his brothers. Jamie was holding back tears, cradling his bruised (and possibly broken) arm to his chest. Anti looked at Jackie confused.

“B-but what about you and Jack?” He stammered, “I’m one of the strongest, I should stay!”

“Don’t argue Anti! We need you to protect the others! Use your strength for them!” Jackie snapped, moving to huddle protectively over Jack’s body, where the other was struggling to stay conscious. Whatever the white suits have given him was making him sleepy and Jackie could feel himself shaking with fear. But he wasn’t gonna let that stop him.

Anti looked conflicted but quickly nodded, scooping up his younger brother and swimming away to somewhere safe. Jackie sighed, letting himself relax slightly knowing the others were okay now.

But he still had the white suit to deal with. He willed with all his might for his mandibles to grow again. He perked up excitedly when he felt them twitch but they didn’t grow another inch. The white suit grew bored of watching the young reaper struggle and it quickly kicked Jackie in the chest, sending him spiraling backward. He flew through the water disoriented before he righted himself. He saw the white suit pick up Jack who hardly struggled in its grasp. Jackie let out a wild war cry and charged again at the white suit, sinking his teeth into its leg. It shrieked, trying to shake the small merman off but Jackie held firm.

After several tense seconds, the white suit pulled out a wicked-looking knife from its pouch and brought it down onto Jackie’s tail. The tiny hero cried out, the pain causing him to release his grip. The researcher then kicked him away, striking his face and everything went black.

\------

When Jackie next opened his eyes he wasn’t where he remembered being last. Where was the warm sand and sunshine? This place was cold and damp, perhaps a cave? He looked up and saw several worried faces looking down at him.

“Hey guys,” Jackie breathed, giving them a pained smile.

“That was stupid,” Anti said bluntly, causing Marvin to hit his arm slightly.

“Yer stupid…” Jackie retorted, sticking his tongue out at Anti. Anti stick out his back.

Marvin scooted closer to the little hero. “Well, I thought you were really brave!” Jameson moved closer too, nodding vigorously.

“Thanks, Marv…” Jackie said before he gave a sudden yelp. He looked down at who was yanking his tail and saw Henrik wrapping strands of seaweed around his injury.

“Do not move so much Jackie or I cannot work!” Schneep chided. Jackie sat up slightly to see what he was doing.

“How do you know how to do that Henrik?” Henrik seemed to flush and looked away while he tied knots into the makeshift band-aid.

Marvin paused before looking at Henrik. “You were watching the white suits again, weren’t you?” The tense silence from Henrik seemed to answer to question.

Anti balled up his little fists and glared at Henrik, failing to keep his voice down. “You must have been the one to bring them here! They took Jack because of you!!”

“No!!” Schneep shouted, “I couldn’t have possibly! I was very sure that I kept my distance and wasn’t seen!”

Jamie moved to calm down Anti who was trying to keep angry tears out of his eyes. Jackie looked at Henrik with sad eyes.

“We keep telling you it’s dangerous to watch them, Henrik…”

“Vell you should be thanking me. If I hadn’t watched them you’d be bleeding very badly right now because of your little stunt,” Henrik mumbled as he checked over his handiwork. Jackie didn’t have a good retort for that.

He looked around the cave as Schneep moved over to Jamie and started work on his arm. The little reaper saw Chase huddled up in a corner, looking very distraught. Marvin swam over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Chase? Are you okay?”

Chase was mumbling and gripping his hair, tears spilling down his face. “This is all my fault... I-I’m the oldest, I’m supposed to p-protect you all b-but I just hid and Jamie and J-Jackie got hurt and Jack-!” He couldn’t contain his sobs and cried into his tail. Marvin and Jackie exchanged sad looks before Jackie slowly swam over.

“It’s not your fault Chase. We had no idea the white suits were coming.”

“But I should have done something! I just immediately swam! I didn’t even t-think to help…”

Marvin chimed in, “Hey I hid too and so did Henrik. We were all scared, it’s okay Chase…” He rubbed comforting circles onto Chase’s back.

“I just wish I could have been brave like you…” Chase whimpered. Jackie playfully punched him in the arm. “Hey, bravery just comes with my DNA, bro. Reapers are protective!”

Chase didn’t seem to find much comfort in this though and he curled up further into a ball, shoulders shaking. Jackie awkwardly rubbed his shoulder before swimming away and letting Marvin handle their brother.

He came to the little huddle where Anti, Jamie, and Schneep were. He plopped down right by Anti as Schneep finished wrapping Jj’s arm in a sling made from more seaweed. Jameson silently thanked Henrik with a nod.

“So…” Jackie started, “What’s the plan now?”

“ We find Jack, bring him home, and beat the shit out of the white suits. Duh.” Anti grumbled, crossing his arms.

Jackie rolled his eyes.

“Okay, yeah, that. But how? We don’t even know where they took him. They could be down in the lava zone or something and only you and Marv can go down there!”

“Then we split up and do anything to get him,” Anti answered quickly.

“No, absolutely not!” Schneep snapped, “We need to stay together or the white coats could take us too!”

“Well, we can’t just sit around and do nothing Schneep!!” Anti yelled looking ready to nip at Henrik.

Jackie looked sadly at his tail and back at his distraught older brothers behind him. “We just might have to, Anti… we have no leads, no idea where he is, and no way to fight the white suits right now. We’re still too small. I can’t even get these freaking things to work.” Jackie looked at his back in frustration, glaring at his mandibles.

Jameson looked down at his hands, a defeated look on his face. Anti squeezed his eyes shut and took a shaky breath, trying to keep from crying.

“He can’t just be gone…”


	2. Anti Reprogrammed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so this project started with a co-author, my friend Jurassicraptorcat on Tumblr! Every now and then there'll be a note on her stories but she has since left the project. Find her on tumblr and appreciate her amazing writing! It was a blast to work with her and without her Septnautical wouldn't exist :)

It has been too long since Jack was taken by the white suits. Marvin had tried warping everywhere to see where he could be and came up empty. The others never truly gave up per se but their efforts dwindled to almost zero. But not for Anti. He was determined more than anything to find his missing brother. He figured for sure they had taken him to the lava zone. It was the only place they could go but most of his brothers couldn’t.

He spent a lot of time searching through the underwater caves but he couldn’t get far before Marvin or somebody would find him and drag him home. Not this time though. He was fed up with getting nowhere. Now the boys were finally their full size, or what they assumed that would be. Nothing like them has existed it before. But Anti could feel it, he felt strong enough to take on the white suits once and for all.

He woke up really early one morning and glanced at the forms of his sleeping brothers. He felt a slight pang of guilt for going off without letting them know. But he was tired of them getting in his way. He quietly untangled his legs from the sleeping pile of the others and swam out of their cave into open waters. He sped towards the opening to the underground while the ocean slowly woke up around him.

It took a couple of hours of Anti following the currents of hotter water before he saw the red hot sight of broiling lava. He felt his heart in his ears, a nervous energy filling his entire body. Yet he felt, slightly at home. He was always drawn to the vents of hotter water around the safe shallows but he’s never been this low. He felt heat course through his veins and he felt even stronger. There was no way the white suits could beat him here, this was his territory. 

He swam further down, skimming the broiling lava as he looked for anything unusual. Eventually, he saw a foreboding square building smack dab in the middle of the lava sea. That had to be it. Fury raged in his chest staring at the alien building. They had his brother in there. Hardly able to contain a cry of rage Anti sped towards the building. He was so consumed with just brute forcing his way through he barely noticed a slight electric field in front of the door until-

ZAP!

Anti was flung backward from the forcefield protecting the faculty. He slid across the floor, nearly falling into the lava lake below. He screamed in pain feeling burns on his skin where his scales didn’t protect him. He was blinded by the sudden pain and couldn’t force his brain to unscramble enough to get up. Everything was spinning.

The next thing he knew his body was frozen in place. He blearily opened his eyes to see he was surrounded by a bright blue bubble and he could see two white suits coming towards him. Anti cursed quietly trying everything in his power to move.

“Well, what do we have here?” One of the white suits said, staring down at Anti, his gun ready to shoot.

“Well it took them long enough,” the other commented, “ I figured one of them would have found him by now. Maybe we should mark down a lack of intelligence.”

Anti bared his fangs at the white suits. “Let me out and fight me, you cowards! Give me my brother back!!”

The one with the gun tutted. “Oh, we can’t do that, sea dragon. We need him. We don’t, however, need you.” He aimed the gun at Anti, powering it with some kind of electricity Anti has never seen before. Anti shut his eyes, bracing for impact.

“Wait,” the other interjected, throwing a hand in front of the gun, “perhaps we can find a use for him.”

Anti growled dangerously and felt his muscles beginning to twitch, the statsis starting to wear off. “Like hell, I would ever help you!” He pushed onto his forearms with all his might, fighting the statsis and sucked in a deep breath. He hadn’t been able to use fire breath before but he prayed this would be the time. He willed with all his might but when he opened his mouth all that came out was a very small spark.

The white suits just stared.

“He can’t even use his fire breath yet. A failure is what he is. We should put him down and start over.”

“No. That would be a waste of time. He just needs the right push.” The other white suit took the gun from the first and set it to stun pointing it back at Anti.

“You’re gonna help us a lot, kid.”

There was a jolt then Anti saw only black.

When Anti could finally open his eyes again he was in some strange room, filled with black inky water. He tried to move but his arms were restrained by his head and his tails were tied together and clamped as well. Panic rose up in his chest and he pulled against his bonds. No one knew he was here. There would be no rescue. Anti screamed, trying everything in his power to break free. But the holdings wouldn’t budge.

Suddenly a bright floodlight shone through the water and into Anti’s face. He winced at the sudden brightness before glaring at the source.

The white suit from earlier, the one who knocked him out, was sitting behind a pane of glass looking into his enclosure. She pressed a button and suddenly Anti could hear her voice right in his ear.

“Hello SD-004. Or I guess your brothers call you Anti huh? Strange name. But then again you all chose strange ones.”

Anti glared daggers at the white suit. “What are you gonna do to me?” He asked through gritted teeth.

The white suit didn’t seem to hear him, she was flicking series of switches and dials on her desk while muttering, “well I suppose we could let you keep your name. It suits you.”

“What do you mean you’ll let me keep my name?!” Anti asked, fear grabbing hold of his heart. The white suit just gave him a sly smile.

“Oh, sweetie. Soon you won’t be able to remember anything. So don’t worry about it.” She clicked another switch and Anti felt two suction type objects snap to either side of his forehead. He fully began to panic, eyes wide and struggling with all his might to break free.

“N-no!! Let me go!! I just wanted to save Jack! My brothers-! They n-need me!! Don’t-!” Anti was cut off by a blood-curdling scream being forced from his throat as his body filled with electricity. Every inch of him burned. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t feel, couldn’t think. His mind was filled with static as every inch of him screamed.

Then there was silence. Nothingness.

**Begin reprogramming…**

**Subject: Sea Dragon Hybrid- SD-004. Codename: Anti**

**Brain activity: online**

**Original memories: deleted**

**Starting new memory sequencing….**

**Primary objective set.**

**Subject is ready.**

\---------  
(Written by Jurassicraptorcat on Tumblr) 

It was night time as Jackie swam out of the shallows and into reaper territory. He could hear their roars in the far distance which was abnormal as there were usually two or three who lingered here. Jackie swam closer to the floor just in case and speedily swam along towards the Aurora.

Jackie and his brothers, those remaining since Jack was taken and Anti disappeared, had grown bigger in the past year and Schneep seemed to think they would only grow larger from here. Already Jackie could use his mandibles a little more, he was also faster and his roar becoming more terrifying. Impossibly Chase’s colors became brighter even as sometimes his mood dropped. Schneep had also grown in a second row of razor-sharp stalker teeth. They stayed hidden for the most part until he was hungry or threatened. Chase still had not forgiven Schneep when a rabbit ray startled Schneep and he took a chunk out of it.

A lot of the protection for Jackie’s prey brothers had fallen on him since Schneep wasn’t really a fighter. They stuck to the shallows for the most part with Jackie being the one to go to the more dangerous areas against his brothers' wishes. Right now Chase and Marvin were begging for more metal scrap. The silence of the immediate area was eerie but appreciated as Jackie didn’t have to run away or aggressively posture at another reaper.

Just as Jackie was digging through some metal scrap a distant woosh sounded and blazing heat hit Jackie’s tail. Jackie screeched in alarm and sped off only for a ball of fire to burst in front of him and cut off his escape. He turned sharply to roar at his attacker and froze in shock.

A grinning Anti floated near Jackie with flames curling out the side of his mouth. His eyes, once a sharp green, shone with a sickly yellow light. Jackie felt something like fear rake down his spine but ignored it.

“Anti?!” Jackie shouted. He went to go swim forward but the blistered skin on the back of his tail had him halting.

Anti, still with a creepy grin, tilted his head in a way that had Jackie almost instinctively back up, “You know my name?”

“Anti what? Of course, I know you’re name! Where have you been?!” Jackie asked.

“You know my name. You know my name!” Anti shrieked. His smile was deranged in a way Jackie had never seen before. He backed away.

Anti’s eyes locked onto Jackie’s form instantly like he was waiting for it. The smile on his face began morphing into something more sinister.

“Anti?…”

Anti opened his mouth and a fireball came barreling out towards Jackie. He darted away in time only for another to explode in his way and change his direction. There was nowhere for Jackie to go but flee in the opposite direction of the shallows with Anti hot on his tail.

Fireballs drove him on and prevented Jackie from just turning around and attacking Anti. Not to mention he had seen the wickedly sharp claws on Anti’s hands. Off in the distance, Jackie could see a cave system coming up but trying to veer off course had resulted in multiple fireballs exploding too close for comfort. Behind Jackie Anti began laughing hysterically.

With nowhere else to go Jackie darted into the cave system with his lost brother who was trying to kill him. The cave system only went down and Jackie noticed after a while that it was becoming hotter and harder to breathe. He was swimming blindly in panic at this point with no thought besides ‘escape’ as Anti seemed to taunt him by breathing more fireballs at Jackie and forcing him down deeper.

Jackie noticed the massive waves of bubbles coming up before he saw the red glow. The heat hit him all at once along with the bubbles. Jackie screamed in pain and began writhing wildly. If Anti was still around Jackie couldn’t tell as he experienced the pain of being boiled alive. A voice shouting Jackie’s name broke through the haze of pain but Jackie couldn’t respond even if he wanted to. Hands grabbed him and Jackie shrieked. Then, blissful darkness.

“No no no no no no no!”

“-ackie! Jackie please!”

“-done. Why did I-”

“WAKE UP!”

“-ie. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, please forgive me.”

Jackie woke to the sunlight of the shallows in his nest back at home. His entire body pulsed in pain if he even dared try to move but he could glance around. His brothers were all lying in a circle around him but not touching him. He could see his skin was covered in burns.

“You are awake,” Schneep stated from behind Jackie. He swam around and began checking over Jackie. “You will of course recover nicely but with lots of rest.”

Jackie blinked and struggled to get his voice to work, “H- how?”

“We do not know. Marvin found you near ze edge of the shallows,” Schneep told Jackie patiently, “Do you remember how you got there?”

Jackie struggled but he couldn’t remember anything besides searing heat and bone-shattering fear. There was something he had to remember though. Something about Anti he had to tell his brothers. Jackie yawned so wide his jaw cracked.

Schneep snorted in amusement, “Questions later, sleep now.”

Jackie had no choice but to agree with him as his eyes were already sliding close. If only he could figure out what he was supposed to remember.

\--------

Anti had been gone for weeks, maybe months now? The septic boys woke up one morning to see his spot in the nest empty. They looked everywhere they could, but they couldn’t find any sign of their missing brother.

Then one day, Marvin found Jackie at the edge of the shallows, covered in the most severe burns he’d ever seen. He rushed his injured brother to Schneep with tears in his eyes, scared to death. It had been a couple of days now and Jackie was still out, sleeping peacefully as he tried to heal. Marvin agreed to watch him while Henrik went to get more supplies.

Marvin’s head began to droop when he heard whimpers coming from Jackie. He scrambled over, trying to see if he was awake. But his eyes were shut, a grimace set on his face. Marvin cocked his head in confusion, before realizing he was dreaming. Well more accurately, having a nightmare.

Jackie started to toss and turn, his breathing getting faster and labored like he was swimming from something. Marvin started, worried he was gonna rub his burns and hurt himself. He moved to wake up Jackie when he heard a somewhat pained whisper come from Jackie.

“A-Anti…” Jackie curled up on himself, shaking in his dream and Marvin stared at him wide-eyed. He moved to shake Jackie’s shoulder, eagerly shouting his name. Jackie slowly opened his eyes, though they were very unfocused. Marvin pushed anyway.

“J-Jackie… Did you see Anti? Where you were?”

“A-Anti… Red… Hot…” Jackie mumbled in a daze, “Laughing…” He shut his eyes and seemed to fall back asleep instantly. Now it was Marvin’s turn to start shaking. The lava lakes… Anti was there.

Marvin sped out of the nest as fast as his tails could take him. “Chase, JJ, watch Jackie for me!!” He shouted down below.

Chase jerked up and watched as Marvin sped by him. He quickly swam after him and grabbed one of his tails, yanking him backward.

“Where the hell are you going?!” Chase asked sternly.

“Ow!” Marvin exclaimed, and quickly yanked his tail back, glaring at Chase. “Anti. He’s in the lava lakes.”

Chase’s eyes widened. “What? How do you know?”

“Jackie just had a nightmare and with his burns and him calling Anti’s name… something must have happened to him.”

“Well, you can’t go alone, Marvin! I will not lose another brother! Not now!” Chase cried. Marvin shut his eyes with a pained expression.

“I know. But if I don’t go find him, who will? I’m the only other one that can survive down there.”

“Just think Marvin, maybe we can find a way down there together, maybe we-”

“I’m sorry Chase, but we can’t wait, Anti needs me!” He pushed Chase back as hard as he could before he concentrated and warped away. He could hear Chase’s cries fade away behind him as he surged through the water.

Marvin wasn’t used to warping to places he’d never been before. But he remembered trying to explore down low with Anti when they were smaller. Now he found himself in of the caves they explored. He felt the pang of missing Anti worse than ever here but he took a deep breath and swam forward, following the hot currents through the caves.

He was blown back by the sudden warmth of the cavern as he approached the bubbling lava. He covered his face, secretly wishing he had some sort of mask, against the heat as he swam forward. He didn’t like this place. Not one bit. He felt a shiver crawl up his spine and he swam around the cavern, looking for any sign of his brother.

Then he saw a dark building in the distance and his heart dropped. That was definitely a white suit place. But down here? Why? Didn’t Anti use to blabber about Jack being down here? Was he actually right?

As Marvin was thinking, he didn’t realize he was swimming closer, somehow drawn to the building. Until he heard a whistle on his right and a fireball flew past him right after.

Marvin cried in fear and he swam away, eyes wide. He searched around trying to find the source and his jaw dropped.

“Well well it’s another one of you freaks,” Anti sneered his head tilting to the side. Marvin’s heart dropped, everything about Anti seemed wrong. His eyes glowed yellow instead of his usual soft green. His whole body was wound like he was ready to tear anything apart. And his face held no recognition in it.

“A-Anti…?” Marvin asked softly, struggling to find his voice. Anti’s head twitched from one side to the other in a jerky motion, his eyes narrowing.

“You know my name too… how the hell do you know my name?” He surged forward, fangs bared and claws drawn. Marvin moved back in fear.

“What do you mean? Y-you’re our brother!”

As Marvin mouthed the word brother Anti seemed to pause, a strange faraway look in his eyes. His body started shaking, his hands gripping and ungripping. Like he was struggling to remember something. His head twitched again and Marvin stared in terror at whatever was possessing his brother.

Then Anti started to laugh. A high pitched crazy laugh Marvin had never heard before that turned his blood cold.

“You fucking liar. I have no brothers! I’ve always been here alone!” Anti growled between spurts of manic laughter. Marvin started panicking, backing up against the walls of the cavern.

“S-snap out of it Anti! Please!” Marvin cried, tears springing up in his eyes.

Anti continued to laugh as he surged closer to Marvin, pushing him against the stone and digging his claws deep into his arms. Marvin cried out in pain as Anti leaned close to his face.

“It’s gonna be fun to tear you apart,” He giggled, “I’ve always wondered what you are made off.” Marvin tried to wriggle free but Antis claws were too deep into his skin.

“Say goodbye,” Anti whispered sinisterly as he opened his mouth to ready a fireball. Marvin quickly closed his eyes and concentrated. As soon as the fireball shot off it hit the rock instead of the warper and Marvin was suddenly behind Anti, swimming away as fast as he could.

Anti screamed in anger and sped after Marvin, shooting fireball after fireball. Marvin quickly dodged what he could and warped when he couldn’t. He couldn’t concentrate hard enough to warp himself back home. After another close call caused him to warp, Marvin was surprised by tails wrapping around his own and throwing him down. Anti cackled above him before he plunged after him. Marvin cursed, he must have warped the wrong way! He was getting so tired from this chase, his warping was getting worse and worse.

He tried again to warp but Anti was faster and he grabbed Marvin’s shoulders and drove him into the rock next to the lava. They both hit the floor with a loud crack. Marvin’s head was just over the edge, he could feel the heat on his neck.

“You’re super annoying to chase,” Anti growled, digging his claws into Marvin’s arms again. Marvin gasped in pain, gritting his teeth.

“A-Anti please..” Marvin whimpered. He screamed in pain and Anti brought down a clawed hand across his chest.

“Shut up!” Anti roared.

Marvin was crying, scrambling to come up with anything that would jog Anti’s memory.

“Anti… I-I know you’re still in there somewhere… we all miss you so much…! Please Anti we already lost Jack we can’t lose you too!” Marvin shut his eyes preparing to be slashed again.

Instead Anti just stared at him, blinking rapidly. He shook his head a couple of times, then shut his eyes like he was in pain. He let go of Marvin and stumbled back, gripping at his hair and breathing heavily. When he opened his eyes again, they looked normal.

“M-Marv…Marvin?” He stammered, looking panicked. “No… no fuck!” He gripped his hair more, struggling to keep his breathing under control.

Marvin hurriedly tried to sit up, clutching his bleeding arms. “Anti…?”

“Marv you gotta get out of here! I…. I… the white suits they-“ Anti was muttering rapidly, a crazed look in his eyes. “I’m gonna f-forget again! Then I’ll hurt you! Please go!”

“Anti! We need to bring you home, please! you can fight this!”

“Y-you don’t understand Marv- they- hngh!” Anti gave a pained cry and ducked his head towards his tails. “I can’t fight em’- please just-!” Anti was cut off as his whole body jolted like it was filled with electricity. He screamed, his eyes opened wide and turning pitch black.

Marvin quickly scrambled away and used his last bit of strength to warp back to the shallows, leaving a tortured Anti behind.

Marvin fell from his warp gate sideways into the sand not far from their nest. Jamie was the first one to find him, gasping and tugging Marvin up. The warper mermen breathed heavily trying to focus on getting home but he was losing lots of blood. The others (besides Jackie) quickly swam over and helped jj get Marvin into the nest.

“What..” Chase breathed, “ what the hell happened?”

Marvin struggled to sit up and Henrik gently pushed him back down as he wrapped up his arms.

“A-Anti…” Marvin gasped, “… he doesn’t remember us… the w-white suits did something to him…”

Henrik’s eyes widened. “Anti did this to you?” Marvin nodded before looking determined at everyone.

“But he’s still in there… the white suits are controlling him somehow… but he’s still there…”

The boys all looked down at the ground grimly. Chase lightly patted one of Marvin’s tail.

“Don’t worry little bro. We’ll figure out how to get him back. Him and Jack.”

\------  
(Written by Jurassicraptorcat on Tumblr) 

Anti woke in a pile of warm sleeping bodies. He basked in the feeling of warmth and safety it brought him. Slowly he was lulled back into a half-asleep state. Everything was perfect like this and Anti had no reason to leave. He couldn’t if he tried. Some distant part of him balked at that line of thinking but Anti was too sleepy to care.

_Subject awakened…_

A bright orange flipper rested on purple armor near Anti’s head. There were bright blue speckled tentacles trapped over Anti’s waist. A white tail and speckled shoulders could be seen from the corner of his eye.

There was nothing for Anti to be worried about and yet…

Something buzzed in the back of Anti’s head in warning. A body wiggling against his back distracted him from following his previous thoughts. Pained whimpers as the body shifted had Anti tensing up. He turned over slowly in alarm.

A blackened, burned body lay next to Anti. Anti choked as he jerked back away from the body. The pile, once comforting, quickly trapped Anti as the tentacles around his waist tightened. A blackened hand raised to point accusingly at Anti as blue eyes Anti knew glared at him.

_Memories triggered…_

“JAC-!”

_Initiating procedure…_

_Begin process…3…2…1…_

Anti woke in the lava zone with tears streaming down his face, an all-encompassing hatred in his heart, and the barest hint of feeling like he forgot something important. He shook it off with a growl. It was just his hunger making him like this. His dinner had gotten away the other day and Anti had no memory of it.

Anti glanced around and decided to stick to his patrol schedule. There would be time for hunting later. Who knows, maybe he’d meet that reaper again and be able to finish the job.


	3. Jack's Imprisonment

Jack wasn’t sure how long he’d been captured by the white suits at this point. He knew he was away from the surface because he never saw the sun. He couldn’t see anything from the outside water. Only cold, green, glowing alien buildings. But whatever “cage” they put him in wasn’t so bad. There were other fish here and plants and stuff to eat. So he tried to look towards the positive. Well except the giant skeleton laying on the sandy floor. That thing didn’t make Jack feel so good.

Then the tests started.

One day, soon after Jack was put here, he woke up in a separate tank. This one was cold and sterile. Too unnatural in its coloring. Just being here made Jack’s skin crawl. He vaguely remembered cells like these from before his brothers escaped the facility. He was hooked up to tubes and humming machinery and he could see large windows spanning the sides of the tank. He could feel the eyes of dozens of white suits boring into him. He felt like throwing up.

The tests started off simple. A couple of blood tests, a few needles here and there. Jack didn’t try too hard to fight the white suits. Not that he could do much anyway. For a few weeks, they kept taking more and more blood from Jack. Until one day they took too much. Jack went out like a light and had to be hooked up to several machines to get everything back to normal.

Jack eventually found out that whenever they were about to do a test on him, they’d put that sleeping serum into his food so it’d be easier to get him into the testing chamber. So, he tried not to eat for a long time. But that just meant the white suits coming for him and forcing that huge needle into his throat. After that Jack figured just waking up in the tank was better than being stabbed with that needle.

Sometimes the white suits would put stuff into Jack’s bloodstream to see how he’d react. Sometimes it made him woozy and he couldn’t swim straight. Sometimes he couldn’t swim at all and he would be racked with shivers. Sometimes he would be swimming at super speeds, darting around the tank, whooping and hollering.

Other times he’d be back in the tank hooked up to a million wires. At first, these tests weren’t so bad. He would just feel a slight tingle. Then they got bigger. And more painful. Then his entire body would be filled with electricity until he tasted metal in his mouth. He swore after some of those tests he could see his scales smoking slightly.

Now Jack was getting to full size, so said the white suits. And Jack wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

Just a couple of days ago the white suits took him to a new room. WIth big circular machines and flashing lights. They said it was just gonna take pictures but Jack never trusted what they said. They strapped him down to a table and placed a breathing machine on his face so he could stay out in the open. Jack didn’t like the hot air on his scales.

But for once they weren’t lying. The circle machines just flashed and buzzed around Jack for what felt like hours. But afterward, the white suits just put Jack back in containment. No pain, no needles. But Jack didn’t trust this. Not one bit.

\------

Jack woke up in a new place. That was a bad sign. He wasn’t in the water again but instead had that breathing mask hooked up to his face. Yet, he felt something in his mouth, like a gag. His arms were bound at his sides and when he wriggled his tails he felt that they were also bound, but contained in a tank of water at the end of the table. Jack instantly started to panic. This wasn’t normal, the white suits had never done anything like this to him before. He strained and struggled against his bonds but nothing worked. He turned his head and could see straight into the main containment tank. Seeing the other fishes swim around seemed to calm him a bit.

But then, He heard the door whoosh and saw two white suits filter in. They were holding thin transparent pieces of plastic, with images of what looked like a skeleton. Jack shuddered when he saw the plastic display a being with 5 tails. Those were pictures of him.

One of the white suits held up the images to the light, examining them. The other looked over before pointing at a certain spot.  
“Perhaps we should start there,” it said. The other nodded.

“Yeah, it seems far away from vital organs. That way we can figure out if this is what makes the enzyme and if we can get it functioning.”

“Meddling with it won’t ruin any future production will it?”

“Eh, the kid’s got fast healing so I wouldn’t worry.” It strapped on gloves and strode over to the table. “And if we completely screw up, we still got the samples from the Sean guy. Can always grow another.”

Jack wriggled as far away as he could from the white suits as they approached, scared out of his wits. The white suit that was just speaking looked down at him in surprise.

“Oh. He’s awake,” It scratched it’s head and looked over to its partner, “Think we outta put him back under?”

“Xander says too much of the drug will affect the tests.”

The main white suit shrugged before grinning down at Jack, “Well kid. This is probably gonna hurt. But I think you can handle it.”

The white suit reached down to the table and pulled out a large scalpel. Jack felt his throat tighten up as he struggled to control his panicked breathing. The white suits had never cut him before.

“Now try to relax, kid, Or this is gonna hurt a lot more,” The white suit said, slowly digging the knife into Jack’s stomach.

Jack screamed against the gag in his mouth as he felt the metal dig into his skin. He wriggled and tried everything to move away, but the white suit held him down with its other hand and continued to cut.

“Jesus! Hold still you little shit!”

Jack’s vision was turning blurry, it was too much. Yet the white suit kept going, slicing through his skin like it was nothing. He could hear the wet sounds of his blood leaking onto the table below. He was close to passing out.

Then he felt the white suit reach inside him and something just broke. All of sudden all he could see was a barrage of colors and shapes and sounds. His ears were ringing and his body felt completely numb.

The white suits saw Jack’s eyes turn pure cyan as he screamed bloody murder. Then the screams turned into powerful waves of sound. The white suits covered their ears against the blast.

“Fuck! Shut him up will you?”

“I’m trying!”

Then the was a loud crack from the window. The white suits looked up in surprise to see a bone shark hitting up against the glass. Then another joined. Then a stalker and-

Suddenly the whole room filled with water.

Jack felt something nudging his side and saw a stalker ripping through his bindings. As soon as he was free the stalker nudged him to get up before it swam outside the cracked window. Jack didn’t hesitate to follow after it, holding his incision closed with his hand.

All the other big creatures in the aquarium were banging against an opened vent on the bottom of the cell. It was just big enough for Jack to squeeze through now. The fish all looked at him expectantly and Jack felt sorta confused. But he was so grateful for their help.

He was feeling faint but if he was fast enough he was sure he could get back to the shallows and find his brothers. So he squeezed on through.

When he eventually wriggled himself out of the building and into open water he was shocked. This definitely wasn’t near the surface. How did the white suits get him down to the lava lakes? Could he even survive down here?

Jack didn’t care though, he had to get away. He squeezed out of the vent and swam as fast as he could to where he thought the surface would be. His whole body already felt hot, and he could barely feel anything besides the pain in his gut.

Then he smacked into another figure. Jack was sent flying back, dizzy, and disoriented. He righted himself, ready to fight whatever white suit had managed to find him so fast and-

“….Anti?”

The two brothers stared at each other, neither saying a word.

“H-how… how did you get down here?” Jack asked, a nervous smile breaking out on his face. He was so happy to see him but something seemed off. Anti was very tense, staring at Jack like he had seen a ghost. His eyes were wide and he seemed almost frozen in place.

Jack felt terror seize at his heart. Something was wrong. He swam slightly forward, reaching out towards the sea dragon.

“Anti?”

Anti’s mouth seemed to have trouble moving and he flinched back away from Jack. But then he looked at Jack like he was giving him a warning.

“Jac-”

Anti was cut off as his body jolted, his head twitching madly around. Jack yelled in surprise, trying to swim towards Anti to help him somehow. But just as soon as the convulsing started, it stopped. And Anti stood stock still, head limp and fallen forward. The sea emperor swore he could hear some kind of gibberish coming from the small disks on Anti’s ears. Then, Jack watched in horror as his brother’s head lifted almost mechanically, his eyes pitch black and lifeless.

“Subject: SE-002... containment breach-,” Anti spoke robotically, his voice racked with static. Jack felt himself fading from the blood loss and sinking slightly through the water, but he tried to reach out towards Anti.

“A-Anti… please…”

“Beginning recapture procedure…” Jack felt through the haze a tight squeeze from Anti’s tails around his middle and the sharp pressure of his claws in his arms. Then, only darkness.

\-------

When Jack woke up again there was a dull pain in his stomach and tears on his cheeks. He blearily looked down to see himself wrapped up in clean sterile bandages. The sight made him miss Henrik and his makeshift seaweed wrappings.

He was back in another lab, with a breathing mask on. Still strapped to a table. He looked around to see he was nowhere near the aquarium now. The room was just white and empty, save the white suits’ equipment.

Jack felt hot tears well up in his eyes. His heart ached for his brothers more than ever. His small glimpse of Anti made the pain of missing them much worse.

While caught in his thoughts, Jack heard a door whoosh open and saw the familiar sight of the head white suit tester. He called himself Xander.

“Well hello there Jackaboy!,” Xander sang, his voice coming through Jack’s ears through a little communication device, “Feelin’ comfortable?”

Jack glared at him and struggled. “What the hell is this? What did you do to Anti?!”

“Oh Jack,” Xander sighed, leaning against the table by Jack’s head, “Don’t concern yourself with our little guardian. He’s not what’s important right now.”

“Bullshit! He’s my brother! And you all turned him into some kind of lifeless puppet!!”

Xander shook his head, “You misunderstand Jack.

Anti is fulfilling his purpose. More so than you or your worthless brothers are.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” Jack shouted, feeling anger burn in his gut.

Xander titled his head, “Haven’t you ever wondered why we keep you here Jack? Why we do these things to you?”

“Cuz your sick demented weirdos that do whatever the hell they want?”

Xander chuckled, “Well that. But think, Jack, why we do this only to you.”

“Cuz you all think I’m special or something,” Jack sneered, rolling his eyes.

Xander slams his hands on the table, causing it to jolt. He grits his teeth together.

“You’re more important than you realize, Jack. You’re the only one who can produce what we’re looking for. And after all this time, all these tests, you still yield nothing! Then you try to escape! You have no idea how valuable you are!”

Jack was at a loss of words for a moment, startled by Xander’s sudden anger. “What does that even mean?! How the hell am I supposed to-”

Xander backs up and walks away slightly, hands behind his back, “I’ve seen your kind nature during your time here, Jack. You always go out of your way to help fish in need. Well, we’re in need Jack.” He looks back at Jack with sad eyes.

Jack narrows his eyes in response, “Even if I knew how to 'produce' whatever the hell you guys want, why should I help you?”

“Because what’s hurting us, is gonna spread throughout the whole ocean, the whole planet if we’re not careful. Then, it’ll get to your brothers.” He walked over to one of the back tables and came back with a jar, slamming it in Jack’s face. The jar contained a small deformed-looking rabbit ray, covered in glowing purple cysts. Jack gasped and tried to move his head away, the sight reminding him too much of Chase.

“This is their fate, Jack. If you don’t cooperate. We cannot allow what happened today to ever happen again.”

“I-I don’t understand… I don’t know what you guys need from me…” Jack swallowed.

“The sea emperors are known for producing an enzyme, the only known cure for the Kharaa. But the old enzyme produced by the small population here isn’t enough for this new strain. We need you, Jack. We need you to produce a more powerful solution.”

“H-how? I don’t even know how to-“

“That’s why you’re here Kid. To figure that out. That’s why we test on you. That’s why we need you here.

You’re gonna save us all, Jack”

Xander reached over and pulled a syringe from the table. Jack’s blood ran cold.

“But now we need to increase our efforts. We’re running out of time.”

Jack feels the horrible pinch of the needle in his neck and feels the room dim as the drug kicks in. Through the haze, he hears,

“Don’t fight Jack. This is for the greater good.”

Then everything fades away.


	4. Jackie's Recovery and Anger

Jackie was chasing something through the water. But no matter how hard he swam he couldn’t catch them. Jackie was feeling desperate, reaching out after the shape, crying out after it. He was surrounded by pitch-black water and he felt like he couldn’t breathe through the weight of it. He was trudging through with all his might as the water got thicker and thicker.

Then the water exploded and everything turned red. A shape appeared out of the darkness and pounced on Jackie, spiraling him backward. It was Anti, grinning in a crazy sadistic manner down at Jackie, sticking his claws into his arms. Jackie felt himself panicking as he struggled to get away. He was crying out for Anti, for him to wake up and come home. But his brother wasn’t listening. He drove Jackie into the ground and grabbed his neck, starting to choke the reaper. Jackie scrambled to breathe, clawing at Anti but he was fading. He could see lava and fire all around him and every inch of him burned as his lungs struggled to get air. Anti was mouthing something at him but Jackie couldn’t hear him over the intense ringing in his ears.

“-ke up..”

“Jackie-!”

“Wake up!”

Chase was shaking Jackie awake. Jackie had been twitching and writhing in his sleep, crying out loudly for Jack, for Anti. He was gonna hurt himself, he was still recovering. His face was scrunched up in pain and he was making strangled noises like he couldn’t breathe. Chase shook him harder and finally, Jackie’s eyes sprung open.

He sprung up with more speed than Chase thought he had the energy for. He roared loudly at Chase, mandibles expanding and eyes pitch black. Chase scrambled back in fear and the other boys all jerked awake behind him.

Chase swallowed and reached a hand out to Jackie, trying to keep his voice calm. “Jackie... It’s okay, it’s just us.” Jackie flinched back as Chase approached and bared his fangs. Chase didn’t push, keeping his distance.

“Just breathe Jackie… it’s okay…”

There was a tense silence for a while, but slowly the black started to fade from Jackie’s eyes and he seemed to come back to himself.

He started breathing heavily again, a scared look on his face. “I-i… what… what happened?”

“You were having a nightmare…” Chase explained. Jackie looked down and nodded, feeling himself shaking as he remembered more of what he just saw. The others weren’t used to seeing Jackie look so terrified, he was usually the brave one. They exchanged silent looks to one another before they all swam over to Jackie. Marvin gently poked his tail.

“Do your burns still hurt?” He asked quietly. Jackie looked up in surprise and he gently touched one on his arm. He winced slightly.

“Um… kinda…”

“Well for that I have a suggestion,” Henrik started and he ushered everyone over. Chase gently pushed Jackie down onto the floor as one by one the boys started to lay down around or on Jackie where he wasn’t burned. Jackie felt himself relaxing as he felt the cold of their bodies against his skin. He sighed, feeling his eyelids getting heavy already.

Jamie tapped him gently on his cheek, causing Jackie to look over at him. JJ ghosted his hand over Jackie’s blistered skin then looked at him questioningly, his head lightly resting on Jackie’s shoulder. Jackie smiled softly at him.

“I’m okay, little guy. Any pain is worth it at this point.”

“You were probably having a nightmare cuz you had to sleep alone…” Marvin mumbled from a spot on Jackie’s tail.

Chase lightly flicked Jackie’s forehead with a smile. “Don’t worry, we’re not gonna leave you.” Jackie smiled more, feeling the heavy weight on his chest lighten slightly.

Their sleeping pile wasn’t complete still but, for now, this was exactly what Jackie needed. The boys all settled and quickly fell asleep. Jackie was able to rest peacefully for the rest of the night, his nightmares far away.

\----

It was long after Jackie recovered. But he still felt pent up and angry. Marvin told him that he had a chance to speak with Anti and learn of his fate at the hand of the white suits. Jackie felt rage spike up whenever he thought of those bastards controlling his brother. But there was nothing he could do now. He shuddered thinking about going even close to the lava lakes now. He could still feel the blistering heat on his skin.

It was night and Jackie was staring up at the ocean above, unable to sleep. He felt so much right now but he was scared of letting it out and hurting his brothers. Like he almost did when he had his nightmare.

Jackie was sick of sitting around, he needed to blow off some steam. He quietly untangled himself from their sleeping pile careful to be extra quiet as he snuck out away from the nest.

Jackie swam through the water as fast as he could, hoping getting his blood pumping would help. He just swam aimlessly for a while, diving through arches and wrecks. Sometimes narrowly avoiding running into them in the dark. But even speed wasn’t helping. He didn’t even know where he was right now.

Until he heard a not so distant roar and he groaned slightly. He was too tired to deal with other reapers right now. But then he paused. Maybe a fight is just what he needed. He set his jaw and took a deep breath before following after the roar. As he chased the noises he realized he was near the Aurora and in his head, he distantly remembered that kindly reaper he met once before. He always meant to go back and visit her but after Jack was taken… it was hard for Jackie to want to do anything.

He hoped he wasn’t aiming to attack her but some part of him didn’t care. Jackie saw the black form in the distance and he locked on aiming straight for it. As soon as he was in range he let out the loudest roar he could and let his mandibles spring out. The reaper turned towards him and roared back, before stopping mid roar to give Jackie a puzzled look. This was definitely that reaper from before. But Jackie didn’t care.

He roared again, feeling the shockwave of the sound echo throughout the water. The reaper got blown back a bit but otherwise didn’t move.

Jackie growled, “c’mon! Don’t just sit there! Fight me!!” The reaper just looked at him with curious eyes. This only angered Jackie more.

Jackie spurred forward, spreading out his mandibles to grab onto the reaper’s tail. He sunk them in deep then spun to send the reaper flying. But he was still small compared to the reaper and she only flew back a few feet. She roared quietly but still didn’t fight.

Jackie pulled at his hair, growling. He was still so angry and nothing was helping. He roared and roared at the reaper trying to feel anything. He roared until his throat was raw. Eventually the roars turned to screams and the screams turned to hoarse broken cries. He wasn’t even aware when the tears started spilling. Soon he was just racked with sobs, holding his arms tight against his chest, shaking.

The tiny reaper soon felt a soft thump on his head, followed by warm breath. He looked up to see the reaper reaching her head down to rest on Jackie’s. Jackie tried to push it away but the Reaper didn’t budge. If anything she got closer. Soon Jackie felt himself being wrapped up in the reaper’s tail. He didn’t understand why she was being so kind to him. But he was too tired now. He laid his head down on the cool comforting skin of her tail and cried and screamed until he couldn’t anymore.

He woke up later still curled up in her tail on the seafloor. He could see the start of the sunrise in the water. And for the first time in a while, his heart felt lighter. He lightly patted the Reaper’s head as got up.

“Thank you,” he whispered with a smile. Then he swam away waving goodbye as he headed back to the nest, hoping he’d get there before his brothers woke up.


	5. Chase's Crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written by JurassicRaptorcat on Tumblr 
> 
> Warning for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempt

The tension in the brothers had risen in the past week since Schneep had gotten better after biting the rabbit ray. Chase was avoiding him like Schneep was sick and going off on his own. Jackie had finally snapped at Chase about leaving his sight for so long and only stopped when Chase cringed away from him.

“I-I’m sorry Chase.” Jackie worriedly said.

Chase nodded but didn’t look at Jackie. “It’s ok. I’m fine.”

In the background, Jamie was doing laps out of anxiety. All the tension was getting to him and making him antsy which led to him constantly moving. As he passed by Marvin he yelped as Marvin lashed out at him.

“Get away from me or drop dead!”

Everyone froze as Marvin released a deep growl. Jamie backed away only to eep as Marvin followed very closely.

“Marvin stop it!” Schneep cried as he sped over to get between Marvin and Jamie. Marvin growled deeper only to back off as Jackie rocketed at him with a roar.

The two faced off in aggressive posturing. No one noticed Chase sneaking out of the cave they called home.

Chase swam blindly through the shallows, his tears leaving a brief trail behind him before dissolving into the water. His chest heaved as he fought to keep his body under control. Near a group of rocks Chase dove into a cave system. He dug through the sand on the bottom until it revealed gleaming metal. With shaking hands Chase picked up the object with reverence.

“It’ll be all over soon,” Chase whispered.

Jamie looked around as his brothers cooled down in opposite corners from each other. Chase was still gone and it worried him. With a quick glance back to make sure Jackie and Marvin weren’t going to try and maul each other again Jamie swam out.

One of his cuddlefish friends swam over and said they saw Chase swim to the hide and seek cave. Jamie frowned and wondered why Chase would go there. He figured maybe Chase went there to hide and think of the good times. Jamie did that a lot when things got bad in his head.

Jamie swam up to the cave and peered in. He shrieked in horror.

“CHASE!”

The cry had Jackie, Marvin and Schneep tearing out of their cave towards where it had originated. It had been to long since they had heard that voice but no one would ever forget Jamie’s voice.

It had started when Jack had been taken and Jackie injured. Little whispers in the back of his head about how useless he had been. A coward. He had hid when his brothers had needed them the most. Chase was the oldest but he didn’t feel like it.

Then Anti was gone. The whispers grew louder. Chase drowned them out trying to cheer up his remaining siblings. Tried to be the big brother they needed.

Instead, he watched from the sidelines as Jackie took on the mantle of protector. Chase could only make them happy. So he held onto that. Clung to it. Anything to deny the ever-present whispers. They had grown more malicious the older Chase got. They spoke of how he shouldn’t be here. How he was merely a burden on his brothers.

Schneep came home with a bunch of scrap one day that Chase picked through when his brother wasn’t looking. He found a strange object. A gun he remembered the white suits calling it. Pressing a trigger had released a small ball of light that killed the peeper it hit.

The whispers started yelling.

Chase hadn’t wanted to tell his brothers so badly about the object. But he remembered being a coward. He was nothing but a coward.

Chase hid the gun while trying to desperately ignore the shrieking joy in his head.

Now he was here. The gun back in his hands. It wasn’t the first time he had come back for it. Some days Chase would sneak off and merely hold the gun for hours while staring at it. Thinking. Waiting. For a sign. For a warning. Throughout it, all the whispering had been there.

Now though, there was silence in his head. It was just Chase and all the bad, horrible things he was. Useless. A coward. Nothing. A bad brother.

Chase’s hand shook as he raised the gun. There were no whispers telling him to do this. Just Chase himself. The bad brother. The worst brother. And all the other horrible things he was.

The gun brushed his temple and Chase still heard nothing. No whispers. No yelling. Just silence, blissful silence.

“Chase!” A body slammed into Chase’s and dragged him down into the sand.

Chase panicked. He struggled to against the body but the tentacles wouldn’t release him. Jamie. Chase’s panic turned to terror. He twisted in the tentacles hold until they were forced to release him.

The gun was nearby, he could see it through the cloud of sand. Chase shook the tentacles off.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Jackie came zooming into the cave and towards Chase. The rest of his brothers were right behind Jackie.

Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was rage. Maybe it was every single horrible thing Chase was but something snapped in Chase. Something that maybe had long been broken.

Chase slammed his tail at full force into Jackie’s head. There was silence as Jackie reeled away from him making pained whimpers. No one seemed to know what to do.

Chase and Jamie were prey and had never really attacked anyone else.

“Chase?” Marvin whispered. His brother was simply floating there with eyes downturns, chest heaving as if he had been racing something.

Chase looked up and Marvin jerked away. There was something in Chase’s eyes that hadn’t been there before. It reminded Marvin of Anti.

No one moved.

Not until Jamie made a desperate swim for the gun. Chase turned on him and in one terrifying move he body slammed into Jamie and crushed him up against the cave wall. He didn’t stop there. Chase whirled around to slam his tail into Jackie who had been trying to approach from behind.

Chase grabbed the gun and looked at his brothers. They all looked terrified. Looks like he was finally fulfilling his role of worst brother.

“Chase.” Jamie called. Chase turned the gun on him. “Chase why are you crying?”

Chase hadn’t realized he was crying, but now he felt the familiar burning of his eyes. A well of shame rose up in him.

“I-I’m no good.” Chase started.

Jackie puffed up. “Don’t say th-”

He went quiet when Chase trained the gun on him.

“I’m no good. I failed you. I failed all of you. I-” Chase choked up briefly as he poured out everything he had felt, everything he had kept hidden. “I’m a coward who hid while Jack got taken and you- you were injured! And I just HID!”

His hands were shaking now as emotions he had long suppressed surged forward. Chase could taste his tears in the water he was crying so much now.

“I’m supposed to be the eldest who takes care of you and I can’t do that! I can’t protect you! What kind of brother hides while his siblings are stabbed and kidnapped? What does that make me when I thought ‘Better Anti than me’ when we found out he was brainwashed!” Chase screamed. He was shaking so hard now he could barely keep his grip on the gun as he raised it towards his head.

Chase didn’t notice the shadow behind him, not until it bowled him over and ripped the gun from his hands. He struggled briefly before arms locked around him and pulled him into a familiar hug.

Schneep held Chase close as he began breaking down. He shook his head at the others when they started to come forward and they back off to quietly panic in the background.

“I’m sorry!” Chase gasped, his hands digging harshly into Schneep’s arms. “I’m so so sorry!”

Schneep pulled Chase into a more comforting hug than a restraining one. “Ve vill accept your apology Chase as long as you accept ours in return.”

Chase didn’t respond so Schneep continued to almost cradle Chase as he sobbed. His brother was hurting in ways that Schneep couldn’t fix with a simple creepvine wrap. This was something Jack had been able to deal with easier than the rest when it came to wounds of the mind.

Jamie finally wandered closer and snuggled up to Chase’s back. “Chase.” He muttered.

Chase started tearing up again and he twisted in Schneep’s arms to grab Jamie and crush him in an almost desperate hug. That prompted the rest to surge forward and snuggle into the group hug as Chase began loudly crying again.

By the time Chase had calmed down enough so that he was only sniffling, he noticed his brothers tearing up around him. His eyes teared up again but besides a tiny sob, he didn’t descend into another crying fit. Marvin soothingly tapped the side of his head closest to Chase’s eyes. “Seems like you’re all cried out brother.”

Jamie pat the back of Chase’s head and the rest of his brothers were quick to press in tighter and off their own comfort. Jackie eventually broke away from the pile to say quietly. “Let’s go home and sleep. We can talk in the morning.” He glanced at Chase who was practically asleep already and only being held up by Schneep.

The others agreed and began the short trip home. Before he left Jamie paused and glanced back. The gun was lying on the cave floor where Schneep had dropped it. Jamie glanced around and darted down to pick up the gun. He buried it at the cave entrance before darting home before his brothers noticed how long he was taking. They were struggling to carry Chase into their cave without bashing his head into anything as he was fully passed out now.

“Idiot exhausted himself,” Schneep said with fond exasperation. They all smiled briefly before the weight of what happened dragged the mood down again. Eventually, they managed to get Chase in and settled. By a unanimous and mostly silent vote, they all settled in close to Chase to sleep.

Sleep took a long time to come to them.

Chase woke the next day and stared up at the small crack in the cave that let sunlight in. He felt drained, like a weight he had been dragging around was suddenly cut off him. He also felt like he had been hit by Jackie’s tail repeatedly instead of the other way around.

“Finally awake,” Jackie stated as he swam over and settled completely on top of Chase so he wouldn’t escape. “I volunteered to talk to you first so prepare to be approached throughout the day.”

Chase opened his mouth to apologize but Jackie hushed him. “If it’s an apology I don’t want to hear it yet. Not until I finish with what I’m about to say.” Chase shut his mouth at how serious Jackie looked.

“We all know I was named after Jack because I tried to copy him.” Jackie started. Chase nodded. It had been cute watching tiny Jackie try to copy everything Jack did. “What you don’t know is who inspired me to swim properly instead of flounder everywhere trying to copy Jack’s tentacles.”

Chase looked quizzically at Jackie who smiled. “You did. It was right after you and Jack decided to have a race back before the white suits released us. You swam circles around Jack. Twisted and turned like you were born more for the water than Jack was.”

Jackie’s grin turned sheepish. “When you and Anti started racing and I was still too small to keep up Jack would catch me trying to do the flips and twirls you did. You made it look so natural and I got so frustrated when I couldn’t do them.”

He flicked the end of his tail and grinned. “A lot of my swimming style, well most of it, comes from you, Chase.”

Chase felt himself start sniffling again as Jackie continued. “And guess who taught me how to care for our family. You did. After Jack was taken and Anti brainwashed I watched you help the others and did what you did. Chase, you’re my big brother and I look up to you, don’t ever forget that.”

The tears came again by the time Jackie finished and he was pulled into a rib crushing hug. Chase returned the hug with all the strength he had and giggled when Jackie grunted.

“You’re my brother no matter what Chase,” Jackie whispered. “So tell us what you’re feeling. Let us help you.”

Chase began tearing up again. “You little shit. I just stopped crying and you have to go and say that.”

Jackie laughed and pulled Chase into another hug. “Don’t do that to us or to yourself. Ever. Again.”

The whispers were still there in the back of Chase’s head but he thought maybe with some help he could deal with them.

“Hugs?” Marvin questioned as he swam in. He didn’t hesitate to nearly maul Jackie who was in the way of Marvin hugging Chase. Jamie and Schneep swam in with food and joined the hug session where Chase was laughing as Jamie accidentally ran his fingers over Chase’s ribs.

‘Yeah ok.’ Chase thought. ‘Maybe things can get better from here.’


	6. Schneep and the Mesmer

Henrik knew searching for white suit equipment was dangerous. But he was just so curious. Curious to see how things worked, and what they could do with their weird tools. Plus, his brothers were always getting into trouble, and the white suits had ways to make sure they could heal.

He was swimming through the dark waters down by the Degasi ruins. He saw a couple of weeks ago some white suits doing some work in the bases. But it looked abandoned again, and the white suits tended to just leave stuff around when they left. Schneep always found that weird, but he wasn’t gonna complain.

Henrik quietly stalked into the upper floor of the base and swam down to examine the tables. He found a few first aid kits, a couple of weird devices, and some pdas. Henrik always loved when they left pdas, it was the only way his brothers ever learned anything. He quickly stuffed all that he could into his makeshift bag before he pushed out of the cracked window back to open water.

As he carefully looked around, making sure he wasn’t followed, he felt a strange presence behind him. Then suddenly, as he turned around, the world swirled with color. He saw a beautiful creature before him with swirling multicolor wings. The stalker’s eyes glazed over as he watched the pattern. Then he heard a strange warping voice in his head, drawing him forward.

Come closer…. Come closer child… Do not resist…. Swim closer now….

Some part of Schneep was screaming to get away but the head was all muddled. He couldn’t think straight, all he could focus on was the colors. And getting closer. Why wouldn’t he want to get closer? It was just… so pretty…

The two creatures slowly approached each other, and right as the Mesmer got into Schneep’s face, it snapped open its jaws and shot its tentacles at his face, wrapping and drawing his face closer to its maw. Henrik screamed, pulled out of its trance, and quickly pulled away. But not without getting slashed by the fish’s upper beak, leaving a huge gash down from his forehead to the end of his nose. Henrik cried in pain and fell back, knocking his head against the hard hull of the base. For a second everything went black. Then he heard a loud crack and felt pain in his arm. Then he was rolling down the jagged rocks below the base, blinded by pain. He crashed into a larger rock and landed on his back, staring back at the ocean above. Henrik groaned in pain, blinking stars out of his eyes. He took a second to assess his injures. A bump on his head, a gash on his face. And a possible broken arm.

Henrik barely got any time to recover though before he heard the soft drone of the mesmer again. It was coming in for a second bite. Schneep tried to scramble away but moving his arm caused him to yelp and curl in on himself in pain. Then the water started to warp with beautiful colors again. Henrik fell back to the rock, fight drained out of him as his eyelids drooped. The Mesmer closed in again, and Schneep seemed helpless to its thrall. But, it was just the human side of Henrik that was trapped in the trance. As the Mesmer drew closer, Schneep’s stalker instincts kicked in without his brain even acknowledging it. His second pair of stalker teeth sprung out of his mouth and managed to sever the mesmer before it even opened its jaw.

The body of the mesmer splatted to the seabed, dead. But the colors didn’t stop flowing. Henrik was still trapped in its trance. Not that he even realized. He just stared at nothingness, mind blissfully blank.

A voice started to break through the haze.

“-enrik-!”

“-chneep? Oh my go-!”

“-ake up! C’mon just wake up!”

“SNAP OUT OF IT!!”

The world returned to normal as a powerful slap hit Henrik’s face. He exclaimed in pain as his eyes adjusted. Things were still blurry though, he must have lost his goggles.

But he could make out the concerned face of Marvin hovering over him.

“Marvin?” He choked, voice hoarse. Marvin looked like he was ready to cry.

“W-we couldn’t find you! We knew you went off for supplies but then you didn’t come home and I looked everywhere! What happened to you?”

Henrik groaned as he tried to sit up, then winced as he jostled his arm.

“Mesmer…” He mumbled, nodding his head towards the creature’s corpse to his right. Marvin looked at it, startled. “It got the jump on me... I was careless…”

“Looks like you got a pretty bad beating from it… “ Marvin commented, moving Henrik’s hair away from his face in concern. He gently reached down and wrapped his arm under Henrik’s so he could lift him. Henrik hissed in pain but could swim.

“My bag… don't forget it… there’s first aid kits in there…” he said quietly to Marvin. The younger brother nodded and scooped up the bag, while also finding Henrik’s goggles. He gently went to put them back on Henrik’s face before realizing it would push against the cut on his face. He smiled sheepishly as he put the goggles on his own head so he wouldn’t forget them before opening a warp gate to take them home.

“Good thing I have been teaching Jamie how to heal…” Henrik mumbled as they swam. Though he was not looking forward to explaining to his brothers how to reset his arm. Recovery was gonna be a bitch.


	7. The Sound of Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (This a flashback chapter detailing how Jameson lost his voice) 
> 
> Written by JurassicRaptorcat on Tumblr

Jamie was terrified as he swam through unfamiliar waters in what seemed like a never-ending circle. He had been playing hide and seek with his brothers when he decided to try and find the best hiding spot. One so good not ever Jackie would be able to find him. Instead, he had gotten chased by a Stalker who had chased him into a Reaper. Jamie had screamed for Jackie only to realize he was nowhere close enough for his brothers to hear him.

Diving into a nearby cave system had seemed like a good idea at the time until Jamie got lost again. No, he was in near dark water with strange glowing plants all around him. Sometimes in the distance, Jamie swore he could hear some sort of creature screaming.

Instinctively Jamie had gone as low to the seafloor as possible to try and blend in and grabbed a glowing plant as a light source so he could see in front of him. The screaming had been getting closer and Jamie could now tell there was more than one creature making the noise.

The ground under Jamie’s hand shook as a nearby heat vent exploded and sent him flying back at the sudden wave of heat. There were arched rocks nearby that didn’t look particularly stable and Jamie was avoiding them. A series of deep clickings from Jamie’s hide had him staring wide-eyed at the strangest creature he had ever seen.

Only once had he seen the white suits bring in a smaller version of this creature. They had called it a Crabsquid. All four of its large blue eyes were focused on Jamie.

“Hi?” Jamie asked.

The Crabsquid shrieked and released an electric pulse that dissipated before it got close to Jamie. He decided now was a good time to run. There was only one way out for Jamie with the Crabsquid blocking one escape route and the heat vent the other. Jamie swam quickly towards the arches. He could hear the Crabsquid click behind him as it gave chase.

Jamie dove into the arches right as the nearby heat vent erupted again. The world was suddenly crashing down around Jamie as the ground gave way. A flash of pain as something knocked into the back of Jamie’s head paralyzed him for a brief second. It was that was needed for the arches to collapse on top of him.

When Jamie came to he glanced groggily around until the ache in his head flared up. He hissed in pain, “Ow.”

Click-click-click-screeee!

Jamie froze at the noise and slowly turned his head to notice the Crabsquid trapped under rubble. It was just barely out of way for its pincers or legs to grab him and Jamie could see the evidence scratched into the ground from what seemed like previous attempts when he had been out. The ground shook again and warmed briefly as the heat vent erupted but seemed a lot more stable than before. It was rotten luck Jamie decided as he stared in fear at the Crabsquid clicking steadily at him.

He wasn’t prepared for it to scream and release an electric blast. His whole body arched in pain as the pulse set his nerves screaming. By the time the effects wore off Jamie realized he had actually been screaming.

“Help!” Jamie shouted. “Please help!”

Then another electric pulse hit him. Jamie screamed. Then another. And another.

His whole body was fire.

His vocal cords were shredded things of the past.

The sounds. It never stopped.

After a while, Jamie couldn’t even scream anymore.

_“SHIT JAMIE!”_

Jamie woke to the bright sunlight of the shallows and the warmth of his brothers' bodies surrounding him but not actually touching him. Everything that had happened seemed like a bad dream. Except his throat felt like he had shoved rock shards down it and his skin felt hypersensitive.

“Jamie?”

Jack was peering down at Jamie in relief. It felt like such a blessing to see both his brothers and the light again that Jamie choked up a little. Jack smiled at him in understanding, “I’m glad you’re back.”

Jamie opened his mouth to reply with something like ‘good to be back’ only for just a tiny noise to escape him. His chest was tightening at the thought of speaking. All he could think about was screaming. Endless screaming. How words hadn’t helped him no matter how much he begged the Crabsquid. How useless words were.

Jack’s hands on his face brought Jamie back to where he was shuddering against the seafloor.

“Jamie!”

His other brothers were already swimming up in a panic at Jack’s shout. Schneep bullied each of them out of the way to get to Jamie.

“What is the matter? Where does it hurt?” Schneep asked.

Jamie opened his mouth and then silently closed it. He put a hand on his throat and shook his head. Schneep furrowed his brow.

“Your throat? Everything checked out when I looked at it.”

Jamie nodded in agreement.

“If your throat is ok why do you not speak?”

Jamie just put his hand on this throat and shook his head again. It was the only answer his brothers were going to get out of him.


	8. Warper Mode Marvin

It had a been couple of weeks since an incident. Marvin was all healed from his encounter with Anti and Jackie was feeling like himself again. But the atmosphere in the nest was tense. Nobody wanted to bring up the situation with Anti, it hurt too much. Plus they had no ideas on how to find him and bring him home.

Though that didn’t stop Henrik from wanting to tinker and see if he could use what white suit equipment they had. Maybe there was some way to make something useful. The boys were smarter than the white suits realized and more resourceful.

So Henrik sent Jackie on a mission to see if he could find more abandoned parts in some wrecks back in Reaper territory. Jackie wasn’t one to refuse a task like this, but Chase was worried. The last time Jackie went to reaper territory…well he was scared for his little brother.

Jackie obviously refused Chase’s suggestion at first. Reaper territory was far too dangerous for a prey fish. But Chase is hard to argue with when he’s set on something. Plus Chase convinced Jackie that it would be faster to search in a group. Jackie couldn’t argue.

The ocean didn’t seem as bright today. It must have been a muggy day on the surface. Maybe it’ll rain, Chase thought with a small smile on his face. He often liked to peek out of the water to feel the rain on his face. It was always nice for a change of pace.

The two brothers approached a wreck far on the outskirts of Reaper territory. It seemed like one they hadn’t explored. Both of the boys looked at each other with mixed expressions. This could spell either adventure or disaster. Either was a certain possibility, knowing their luck.

But off they swam to explore. They squeezed through the cracks in the broken hull and into what looked like a laboratory. If only Schneep was here, he liked this kind of stuff.

The boys swam through cautiously past strange glass bottles, broken and discarded. Past huge monitors cracked in half, wires exposed. Past what looked like a glass cabinet filled with various equipment and vials.

Chase paused in front of the cabinet, peering inside. “Think Henrik would need anything from here?” He asked Jackie, who was digging through large piles of broken metal.

“Just get whatever you can bro, Schneep’s not picky.”

Chase looked at him, struggling to dig through the mess, his tail flailing in the air. He held back a quiet laugh before turning his attention back to the cabinet. He carefully pried it open, feeling the strain of time keeping it stuck. As he looked through the cabinet he carefully moved away a bunch of vials and bottles so he could see to the back, looking for any kind of machinery they could use. Chase was searching so intently, he hadn’t realized a big collection of sickly green vials we’re making their way to the edge of the shelves. Until…. Wham!

A bump from Chase sent the vials over the edge, hitting him on the neck and back, shattering into broken pieces. He exclaimed loudly, feeling the broken glass cut into his skin and the cloud of sickly green fluid settling on his skin. The liquid stung like crazy and he blinked painful tears out of his eyes.

Jackie immediately sprung over towards Chase. “Dude, you okay?! What happened?”

“Nothing,” Chase assured, quickly rubbing his neck, “I just knocked over a few vials or something.”

“I think you got cut man…”

“We’ll take care of that once we get back to Henrik,” Chase said bluntly. Jackie blinked, unconvinced for a second. But he eventually shrugged and started gathering what he felt was useful into one of their bags. Chase carefully felt the cuts on his neck, wondering why the hell they hurt so much.

After about a half-hour of careful searching, the boys took their brimming bags of goodies back to the cave. But Chase wasn’t feeling so hot. Well, he was actually feeling really hot. And shivery. His vision was fading in and out but he didn’t think too much of it. He probably just needed some sleep or something.

Jamie was curled up half asleep next to a concentrated Schneep looking through old PDA files. He looked up as he heard the rustling of their bags.

“Ah good! You’re back,” He said with a soft smile, “e got a little worried.”

“No sweat, doc. Me and Chase can handle anything!” Jackie beamed, throwing his fist out to Chase for a fist bump. Chase tiredly grinned, knocking his fist against Jackie’s. He suddenly felt a wave of nausea overcome him and sagged slightly. Henrik immediately took notice and swam up to meet Chase, startling Jamie awake as his head fell towards the sand.

“Are you hurt, Chase?” He asked curiously. Chase shook his head slightly.

“No… well, yeah, I got cut by some glass at the wreck and I’ve… I dunno I feel kinda strange. But I could just be tired.”

“Let me see in the light,” Henrik commanded, dragging Chase to the spot where the sky shone into the cave. He pointed for Chase to sit on the ground and Chase tiredly obeyed. He just wanted to sleep.

Henrik swam behind Chase and carefully observed the cuts. His eyes widened slightly and a slight tremor came through his voice.

“Chase… what was in that glass…?”

“Is something wrong?” Jackie asked, swimming back over, leaving the pile of metal discarded in the corner. Henrik moved over to show the reaper a clear view of Chase’s neck. The wound wasn’t deep but from the cut, a series of crack-like veins had started to form, like Chase’s skin was breaking apart. And some of the veins were glowing a sickly green.

“What is that?!” Jackie exclaimed in horror, and Jamie swam over to see it too. The little one put a hand over his mouth in surprise.

“What? What is it?” Chase snapped, too tired to deal with this. “It’s just a cut isn’t it?”

“Chase whatever cut you back there… I think it might have been dangerous….” Henrik started slowly. Chase was trying to listen, really. But his vision was swimming more and more, and his head was killing him. He leaned his head down, eyes barely able to keep open.

“Can’t we just worry about this later…?” He yawned. Henrik quickly swam in front of him and shook Chase’s shoulders.

“Chase, Chase! You cannot sleep! This is bad… maybe we can see if the PDAs have something! There’s got to be something to fix this!” Schneep was sounding panicked, but Chase was fading. He was so hot, he just wanted to sleep.

“Woah, what’s going on in here?” A new voice asked from above. Marvin swam down from the skylight of the cave, carrying his own bag of treasures.

Jackie called up, “Chase is sick or something!”

Marvin laughed slightly, dumping his bag with the others. “I didn’t know we could get sick. Guess there’s a first time for everythi-”

Jackie, Henrik, and Jamie all turned when Marvin cut off. He was just still, staring at the cut on Chase’s neck with a strange expression. Then his eyes turned bright pink, and he grew a second pair.

“M-Marvin….?” Henrik asked, shakily.

Marvin opened his mouth to reply but all that came out was robotic-sounding gibberish.

“▀▖┗▛▄▖▜▚┣ ▜▚┗┣┗┫┓┏┓ ▛▄▖”

The boys suppressed a shudder, and Jackie moved closer to Chase on instinct. He didn’t like the look on Marvin’s face.

Everything happened so fast.

Suddenly Marvin was rushing towards Chase, knocking Jackie and Jamie away. Schneep was closest to Chase and he curled around him protectively as Marvin approached. Marvin dug bright blue claws into the Stalker’s shoulders before shoving him away. Henrik cried in pain and hit the cave wall with a dull thud.

Chase, hardly aware of the situation, looked up just in time to see Marvin’s terrifying alien eyes boring into him. Chase gave a cry of shock at the sight as Marvin’s claws dug deep into his arms. Chase screamed, trying to pull away, digging his tail into the sand below. But Marvin held firm, stronger than he usually was. Then suddenly, Chase was falling backward, feeling the pull of a current dragging him away. He was blown back, twisting and turning through a whirlpool of purple and blue. He caught one more glimpse through the chaos at Marvin staring at him blankly before the warp gate closed. Leaving Chase bleeding and disoriented and sick, in a field of darkness far away from home.

The brothers stood shocked as Marvin warped Chase away. Jackie tried to speed into the opening before it closed, but he was too late. He nearly collided face-first into the cave wall.

“What the hell?!” Jackie yelled, quickly shifting around to face Marvin. Marvin was unresponsive, staring at the place where he portaled Chase away with blank eyes. Like he was processing what happened.

Henrik quickly swam over, his arms still bleeding. He cautiously approached the warper, afraid of what he might do next.

“M-Marvin…? Are you there buddy…?”

Marvin’s head twitched slightly. He spoke in a robotic voice that sounded almost nothing like his own.

“Scanning for infected individual… Sharing the subject’s location with other agents.”

“He’s sending other warpers after Chase!” Jackie cried angrily. “Schneep, snap him out of it!”

“I’m trying!” Henrik snapped. He thought for a moment, back to how he saw the white suits talk to the warpers.

“Confirm subject’s location,” Henrik commanded in his coolest, calmest voice. Marvin paused for a brief moment, assessing the command.

“Subject location: Deep Grand Reef biom-” Marvin twitches again before his eyes drooped and his pink eyes dimmed.

“I-insignificant power… “ He mumbled, his voice fluctuating from robotic to normal and back again.

“Marvin! No, stay awake!” Schneep cried, holding his brother’s shoulders tightly. The warper sagged in his arms.

“Shutting down…” Marvin whispered in his own voice, his eyes slowly returning to their normal color as they rolled back. He fell against Schneep as his body shut down. Henrik could barely hold him up and struggled to set him down. Jackie quickly came over and helped Henrik lowered Marvin down to the sand.

“Shit…” Jackie muttered, “What are we gonna do?”

Just as he finished his sentence, the boys heard a quickly rumbling around in their metal pile before a brief current flowed past them. They looked at its origins and saw speckled black and white tails speeding out of the cave, carrying one of their radios.

“Jamie!” Jackie quickly pushed himself up to speed after him but Schneep quickly grabbed his tail, halting him.

“Henrik let go!” Jackie cried, “He can’t go down there alone! Not after last time-”

“Jamie knows that area better than anyone. Despite what happened.” Schneep interrupted. “Besides if Marvin wakes up… I need you here Jackie. We cannot let Marvin go after Chase too. And I need to search the PDAs.”

Jackie looked out of the cave with a conflicted expression. “I can stay close by, with a radio, so I can hear if you or if Jamie needs me. How does that sound?” Henrik thought, then slowly nodded. He swam over and plucked a radio for Jackie before handing it to him.

“Please stay safe…” Henrik pleaded quietly. He was so sick of his brothers getting hurt. Jackie nodded with a determined expression.

“You too Schneep.” He quickly turned fin and sped out of the cave. Henrik looked down at Marvin’s sleeping form before sighing and going to find as many PDAs as he could from their collection. Something had to have the answers…

Chase had no idea where he was. It was cold, and dark with strange dim blue lights all around. He heard clicks and screeches echoing around. With the way it sounded, he figured he must be in one of the underwater caves. He shivered and held his bleeding arms, trying to assess his surrounding.

Then he heard the familiar drone of a warper. Chase quickly panicked his heart racing. Marvin was here to finish the job or something worse. Chase quickly sped off in a random direction, hoping he’d find a good place to hide.

He swam until his tail burned with exhaustion. His fear cleared the haze of whatever sickness he contracted, but he could still feel the heaviness of it flowing through his body. He was afraid of passing out here, where no one could find him but the warpers.

After what felt like forever, Chase spotted a white structure just peeking above the fog near what looked like waterfalls. Chase dove towards the structure and found a strange-looking base. He wasn’t sure what anyone would want a base down here but he wasn’t gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.

He sprinted inside the long since abandoned base and found a table of some sort to hide behind. He quickly settled down and huddled his tail under his body, holding the top of the tail to his chest with his arms. He felt his whole body shaking and he wasn’t sure if it was from the cold, the sickness, or his fear. The base was eerily quiet, save for the quiet creaks of the ancient base against the tides and Chase’s labored breathing.

It wasn’t long until Chase heard the hum of the warpers again. He could feel his heart in his throat, panic spreading through his body. He huddled his tail closer, trying to make himself smaller. He was struggling to keep his breathing quiet with the fever ravaging through his system. His breath came out in fast, loud bursts, his face flushed and hot. The room started to swim again and Chase whimpered. He didn’t wanna die down here.

He laid his head down on his tail and curled up more, waiting for death to find him. Either the warpers or the sickness. He felt himself wanting to cry but he was too tired. He started to feel the cool relief of unconsciousness threaten to pull him under. He didn’t want to fight. Maybe this would be easier if he was asleep. Maybe he wouldn’t feel anything. The blackness kept creeping in and Chase felt the pull of its thrall on his eyelids. Sleep sounded so good right now.

Jamie rushed through the ocean as fast as his tails could take him. He knew exactly where to go but he hadn’t been since…. He felt fear grip his heart and the cold feeling of dread settle in his stomach. But his big brother needed him. So he pushed onwards.

It took him a while to find his way again as he tried to keep his fear in check. But soon he found the weird blue lights in the darkness and followed them down deeper. Luckily, no crab squids were nearby. He grabbed a small bundle of the plants to light his way and he huddled his radio close to his chest.

Soon he saw purple figures in the distance. The warpers. He could see them patrolling in the area and carefully hid up against the wall. They were mostly equally spaced around the caves but Jameson could see a few more surrounding the more foggy area by the waterfalls. That must be close to where Chase was. Jamie sped off as fast as he could.

Chase was close to passing out when he heard the sounds of warp gates being opened near him. He didn’t move though his heart started to thump madly. He waited for one of them to find him and prayed it would be quick.

“Chase!” A small voice cried and soon Chase felt tiny arms and tentacles wrap around him. He looked up in surprise to see Jamie.

“J-Jamie?” Chase whispered hoarsely. Jamie shook his head and put a finger to his lip and quickly pulled Chase from under the table.

“Move,” Jamie spoke quietly and grabbed Chase’s hand to drag him out of the base. They stuck around the underside of the base, looking at the path of the warpers above. Once they flew over and out of sight, Jamie pushed forward and pulled Chase after him to find another finding spot farther away. They swam further up to the surface and found a smaller cave to hide. Jamie silently handed the radio to Chase. Chase tiredly took the radio from him and pressed the button to talk.

“H-hello?… Henrik?” Chase’s voice was so shallow sounding around his feverish breathing.

“Chase!” Schneep voice blasted through the intercom, “Thank God you are okay! Jamie found you then?”

“Y-yeah… little dude really came through…” Chase said, giving a small smile to Jameson. The little cuddlefish beamed and patted his tail.

“Well I am glad you are safe for now,” Schneep continued, “But I am afraid you’re not quite out of the woods yet….. I’ve been reading the PDAs and I think i found the reason you are very sick right now.

It is a disease called the Kharaa. Apparently, it ravaged the planet for a couple of centuries before it was cured. Luckily, the cure should be… easy enough to find. Sea Emperors produce the enzyme needed.”

“Where’s Jack when we need him?” Chase said, giving a bitter laugh. There was a tense silence for a moment.

“… Do you think that’s why they took Jack? Cuz of this… Kharaa?”

“I do not know… they are enough sea emperors around to keep Kharaa away. You just got very unlucky with that glass. I do not think they took Jack for the Kharaa, it’s been cured for a long time…”

“Well, whatever. I guess me and Jamie need to find a sea emperor then…” Chase said, feeling his head getting heavy. Jamie lightly smacked his cheek, to keep him awake.

“….are you feeling okay Chase..?” Henrik inquired. Chase shook his head.

“I feel awful…. I dunno…”

“Will you be able to do this?”

Chase looked at Jamie, who looked back at the older brother with sad worried eyes. Chase felt a pit in his heart. He wasn’t gonna give up so easily. His brothers still needed him.

“I’m gonna have to.”

Schneep found a PDA that told him that the location of a sea emperor was closer than they thought. Which was a surprising stroke of luck.

Still, Chase was feeling worse and worse the more this dragged on. When he looked at his arms he could see crack like veins appearing around, some looking greenish and glowing. And he swore he saw some of the veins looking like little green bumps. But he could be imagining things, his head was really cloudy.

Jamie was leading them on towards the Grand Reef, dragging Chase behind him, holding his hand tight. Chase tried his best to help spur them along, but he was becoming more and more of a deadweight. He just couldn’t stop panting and shivering. He kept having to blink the sleep out of his eyes and shake his head to keep concentrating.

His body felt so hot but the water felt so cold. If he could sweat, he’d sure be sweating buckets. Every now and then he would sag, shutting his eyes for a second and Jamie would pause and pull him back up and lightly tapping his face. He would give Chase a worried smile and a thumbs up to make sure he was okay. Chase would nod, hardly registering anything. He’d only register the need to keep an eye on Jamie, his brotherly instincts keeping him from going completely under.

He started a mantra in his head. Keep going, keep going, for your brothers, it’ll all be okay. Keep going…. For your brothers… keep going…. Keep….

It came to a point that Chase couldn’t go on anymore. His body was shutting down. He felt his hand slip from Jamie’s as darkness overtook him and he was falling.

Jamie gasped quietly and quickly swam after Chase’s falling body before he hit a rapidly approaching rock form. Jamie managed to grab him just in time and wrap him up in his arms and tails to protect him. But he wasn’t as fast to not hit the rock himself. Jamie slams his shoulder against the edge and they both roll and tumble down the rock before settling onto the ocean floor in a cloud of dust.

Jamie whimpers briefly from the dull pain in his shoulder before he quickly goes over to try to wake up Chase. But the older boy is knocked out cold, his face scrunched in a pained grimace as he tries to breathe. He’s flushed red and little cysts of green were freckled across his face and arms and chest. Jamie felt like crying, a few tears escaped his eyes.

He lightly slapped Chase’s face before he tried shaking his shoulders madly.

“Chase…!” He cried quietly, his voice still soft from underuse. “Chase…” He felt his lip quivering as his brother just lay limply in his arms.

Then Jamie heard an echoing, haunting roar not too far away. They must have made too much noise in their fall and alerted something nearby. Jamie’s heart stuttered in fear and he quickly looked around, trying to spot his radio. He saw it a few feet away and he dashed for it, quickly hitting the talk button.

“J-Jackie!” He coughed, sand getting his mouth.

It took a second but from the static Jackie’s voice came through. “Jamie?! Shit, where are you?”

“G-Grand Reef….” Jamie stuttered quietly. He opened his mouth to say more but he heard the roar again, closer this time. Jamie without thinking sped back to Chase and quickly covered up his body with his own. This was all he could do. He had never felt more useless…

The dim murky light was momentarily blocked out by a huge figure, then the area was cast in a strange lavender light. Jamie looked up to see a terrifying creature glowing and snarling down at them, its appearance reminding Jamie of a Reaper. Jamie held back a frightened gasp as the creature stared at the strangers. 

It then suddenly screeched and Jamie couldn’t help but cover his ears against the blast. He looked up to see it rushing for them at top speed, mouth opened wide. Jamie felt himself scream as he ducked over Chase and braced for impact.

Instead, he heard a pained screech and the slam of another body against the seafloor. Jamie cautiously looked up to see another enormous creature, larger than the last. But the coloring of this one was familiar. It had brown spotted armor like Jack.

Jamie felt tears in his eyes again as his whole body sagged with relief.

The Sea Emperor clicked and roared at the glowing creature, to which the snake-like creature screeched back. The armored emperor looked like it was going forward to slam into the beast again but the glowing creature instead turned fin and swam away into the dark murky waters away from the boys.

 **Child…** A voice said in Jamie’s mind and he shuddered for a second. The Sea Emperor turned to tilt its head towards the boys.

**I apologize. The ghost leviathans of this area are highly territorial. They do not like strangers in this area. Especially strange ones such as you… I have not seen creatures like you before.**

**Pray tell, young one. Why do you venture here?**

Jamie lifts a shaky figure to point at the Sea Emperor before he sits up and reveals a still sleeping Chase underneath him. The older boy’s breathing was getting shallow and the green cysts on his body were only getting bigger.

The Sea Emperor tilted its head again before it swam to settle on the seafloor next to the boys.

**Oh dear…. I have not seen this in such a long time. I had thought the disease had been cured permanently…**

**Fret not, strange ones. For I can cure your ailment.**

It lowered its head to their height and gently blew onto the sand, creating a small dust cloud. Jamie coughed and shielded his eyes. But soon he heard another cough join in and opened his eyes to see Chase coughing against the dust.

Jamie’s face broke into an eager smile and he quickly hugged Chase. The older boy sputtered in surprise.

“J-Jamie…?” W-what…” He coughed roughly, his body shaking. Jamie gently patted his back, trying to help.

The Sea Emperor suddenly soared into the open water above and twirled around the boys, almost like some kind of dance. It took only a moment and when it returned, it was nudging a small yellow bubble of some kind back down to them.

**Hello, other strange one... I see you are awake.**

Chase gasped at the voice in his head. “Y-you can talk?”

The emperor made a noise much like a chuckle.

**Indeed. But only to those willing to listen.**

It nudged the bubble near Chase’s chest before moving away.

**Stick your hand inside the bubble child. It will cure you and then you may return home.**

Chase hesitated, staring at the bubble and the emperor with a wary expression. Jamie quickly took his hand and nodded his head vigorously, urging him to go. Chase gulped, then plunged his hand into the golden speckled orb.

It was slimy, a texture Chase was not used to. He tried to take his hand back out but it was stuck in the goopy orb. He used his other hand to try to tug it out and got it stuck too. He started to panic, pulling with all his might. He tugged until they suddenly slipped out. But the goop was still there and Chase tried to shake it off. Then he could feel his hands tingling and saw the enzyme pulse and spread up his arms. He closed his eyes and felt a strange pressure on his arms as the enzyme pulses once more. Then it seeped into his skin and Chase felt a cool wave washed through his body. He blinked and watched slowly as the gold of the enzyme spread through his veins, sending the sickly green glow away and getting rid of those horrid glowing cysts.

Chase stared at his hands in disbelief as he realized his lungs no longer felt so tight. He could breathe freely and he felt energy flowing back through him. He looked back at Jamie who was crying tears of joy and quickly hugged Chase around his neck, holding him tightly. Chase smiles and hugs him back. He looks back up at the sea emperor and he feels like it might be smiling too.

“T… Thank you… Thank you so much…” Chase whispers.

**No need to thank me. We are the protectors of the sea, like our mother before us. The kharaa is a horrid disease no one should ever face alone.**

It moved to swim upwards but kept his eyes on the boys.

**You are quite fortunate to have your brother. I hope you all will stay together, no matter what you may face.**

It looked like it was ready to swim away but it turns towards them one last time.

**I also hope that will meet again someday, under less dangerous circumstances.**

**Farwell, Chase, Jameson.**

It clicked at them before turning tail and floating off into the darkness. Jamie and Chase watched it swim in awe.

Jamie looked at Chase, still in disbelief. Chase grinned and tousled his hair.

“Wait till the others hear about this!’

Chase pulled Jamie upwards and took his hand.

“C’mon little bro, let’s go home.”

Jamie beamed at Chase and held his hand tightly. It was good to have his older brother back. The two sped back towards the nest, hoping they’d catch Jackie before he tried to fight that Ghost leviathan himself.

The boys found Jackie at the outskirts of the Reef and the Reaper halted in front of them. His eyes grew wide then he grinned and tackled slammed into Chase, hugging him tightly.

He brushed away tears discreetly and hugged Chase again, softer this time.

“I’m so glad you’re better…” he breathed. Chase smiled and leaned his head down on top of Jackie’s

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

Chase broke the hug and looked off into the distance, back towards the nest. He looked tense.

“Is.. is Marvin still…?” He asked cautiously.

“No, Marv he- he passed out or something. Said he had… low power or something?” Jackie shuddered and held his arms, “It was so freaky… like he was a white suit machine…”

“Let’s hurry and make sure he’s okay,” Chase started, motioning his brothers to follow after him. The three speed through the kelp forests and the spare reefs back to the shallows as fast as their tails could take them.

They swam down through the top entrance to the cave and found Schneep carefully observing Marvin, who was still asleep. Henrik’s head quickly jerked up when he heard the noise and he spun around as soon as he saw Chase.

“Chase!” He cried, swimming up to meet him and giving him a quick hug, before holding him at arm’s length.

“I… I thought you…” he blinked, tears out of his eyes and Chase playfully knocked him in the shoulders.

“Hey, no more waterworks okay? There’s enough water around here!” He grinned, and all the brothers felt warm seeing Chase back to his old self. Henrik shakily laughed and wiped at his eyes.

“Yeah.. yeah… you are right… I’m just so glad you are okay…”

The boys paused as they heard a quiet moan down below. Marvin was slowly moving his head and opening his eyes.

“Guys…?” He mumbled, sounding like he was in pain. The boys all swam down to his side and huddled around him.

“Hey buddy… we’re here. Don’t worry, we’re here.” Chase spoke softly, rubbing Marvin’s arm.

The warper mermen looked panicked for a second, his eyes darting around the cave.

“I…I-i can’t move… my body it’s…!” Marvin panted. Schneep quickly shushed him.

“Breathe Marvin… it's okay! You just need rest.”

Marvin’s breathing slowly calmed down and he stared at the ceiling of the cave.

“What… what happened? I just remember talking to you guys then… everything went pink? And I heard…. strange voices I-in my head. And I felt my body moving on its own….” Marvin’s lip quivered, recounting what he could remember. The other brothers looked at each other with concern.

“You… you kinda went crazy Marv…” Jackie started. Jamie smacks him in the shoulder and Jackie exclaims, nipping his teeth at Jamie.

“Don’t say it like that, Jackie!” Chase snapped softly, seeing Marvin's eyes go wide again.

“What?! What did I do?!” Marvin exclaimed.

Schneep quickly quieted him down again.

“I looked into it… apparently your warper DNA reacted to the sickness Chase acquired from the wreck… According to the PDAs Warpers were used long ago to keep the spread of this disease in check.”

“W-why don’t warpers do that anymore? I’ve never seen a warper a-attack, anyone, before…” Marvin whimpered.

“The disease was supposed to be cured long ago. I think this vas the first time the ocean had seen the Kharaa in a long long time.”

There was a tense silence for a few minutes as Marvin tried to process the information.

“What’s gonna happen now? Am I gonna go crazy again?” He asked in a small quivering whisper.

“Don’t worry bro, I’m all better now!” Chase assured with a grin. Marvin looked at him grimly.

“But… the Kharaa…” Marvin said the word and seemed to twitch slightly, the word like poison in his mouth, “it might still be spreading from the wreck… something else could get infected… or worse.”

The boys all stared at each other grimly. Jamie tugged on Chase’s arm the pantomimed the way the sea emperor swam. Chase smiled.

“We got the sea emperors Marv, and each other. We’ll be here for you no matter what.” He lay a hand on Marvin’s tail and the other boys all did too. Marvin felt himself smiling, finally.

”Yeah… we can handle anything..” He said, letting his eyes close fully to rest. The brothers all huddled together to rest together in their big sleeping pile. It had been a long day, but it was good to be home together.


	9. Jamie, Anti, and the Dream

Anti certainly wasn’t the youngest of the brothers. He was older than three of them. And he certainly did not like being babied. But, there was just something that wound him up about Jamie. Maybe it was his annoying happy energy. Maybe it was the fact that all the white suits loved to coddle and stare at him. Maybe it was because all his brothers loved to cuddle and play with him. Maybe it was because he was too spiky and dangerous, too much of a monster. While Jamie… Jamie could do no wrong.

One night, Anti couldn’t take it anymore. While they all lay sleeping in various places around their tank Anti found Jamie sleeping, curled up on his side. Soft, peaceful, snuggled up cutely with some random fish. Anti felt anger spike up in his chest and he pushed Jamie over and pinned him to the ground. Jamie startled awake and before he could make a peep, Anti had his hand over his mouth. Anti growled dangerously in his face, and Jamie stared at him wide-eyed.

“Listen here, little brother,” Anti whispered harshly, “You might have everyone else under your spell or whatever. You might get all the hugs and everyone may want to play with you. But know this. If you ever think for a second that you’re better than everyone, that you’re better than me! Just remember I can tear you into cute little shreds. Understand?!” Anti growled in his face, fangs bared and uncomfortably close.

Jamie felt tears in his eyes and he was shaking so badly. He quickly nodded, closing his eyes. Next thing he knew he heard a wild war cry and felt Anti come off his body. He opened his eyes to see Jackie had tackled Anti off of him and now had Anti pinned. The two growled at each other. Jamie was quickly helped up by Jack and Chase.

“What the hell was that Anti?!” Jackie yelled.

“Yeah, why were you being mean to Jamie?” Marvin asks.

“It’s none of your fucking business!” Anti snapped.

“Language!” Chase snaps back, “This isn’t how brothers treat each other Anti!”

“How would you know? How would any of us know? We’re just a bunch of freaks created by stupid scientists who pretend we’re brothers!” Anti cries, angry tears welling up in his eyes. “We’re nothing but freakshows, monsters!” Anti closes his eyes and lets his head fall to the sand, quietly adding, “I’m nothing but a monster…”

The brothers all look over at each other before quickly swimming over to Anti. Jackie helps him up then quickly gives him a hug.

“Why do you think that Anti…?” Henrik asks quietly. Anti looks away, biting his lip.

“I…. everyone looks scared of me. The white suits... You guys… Jamie is…” Anti cuts himself off and huddles his tails under his arms.

“Are you… jealous of Jamie?” Jack questions. Anti looks away and that’s enough of an answer for them.

The brothers all gather round and hug Anti and Anti ducks his head in shame.  
“I’m… sorry,” He mumbles into his tails.

“You don’t have to be jealous Anti. We all love you just as much as Jamie!’ Jack says with a smile. “We just have to be nice to each other, okay?”

“We only have each other after all,” Chase adds, ruffling Anti’s hair. Anti sniffles and runs his hand under his nose.

“Yeah.. okay..”

After that Anti tried his best to be nice. Jamie could see that. But deep down, Anti was still a predator and that comes with major anger issues. Henrik, Jackie, and Marvin had their moments too, but Anti had the hardest time dealing with it. But Jamie would always be there for him.

And he took every blow. Small ones, minor shoves and pushes, and harshly whispered insults. But Jamie knew Anti never truly meant it, he knew his brother loved him.

But there were just some things Anti couldn’t control. Especially once Jack was captured.

It happened one day while Jamie was swimming around, playing tag with his cuddlefish friends. He watched as they twirled and chirped around and he laughs quietly at their antics. But while he wasn’t paying attention he ran straight into Anti’s back out of nowhere.

Jamie whined and held his nose and was about to ask what Anti what he was doing when he froze. Anti’s hands were covered in thick yellow fish blood, his claws drawn out. He was heaving like he was just in a fight with something but he quickly spun on Jamie, causing the cuddlefish merman to back up in fear.

There was something wrong with Anti’s eyes. They seemed more animal-like than normal. Anti bared his fangs at Jamie and growled deep in his throat before he lunged, slamming Jamie to the dusty seafloor. Jamie gasped and tried to wiggle free but Anti already had his nails curled into his skin. Jamie cried out but was quickly silenced by a roar from Anti. The sea dragon hybrid moved so he was close to Jamie’s face and Jamie thought he could see a hint of orange brewing in his opened mouth.

Jamie panicked and quickly flicked his tentacles to wrap around Anti’s and pulled. Anti was yanked off Jamie and thrown to the floor and Jamie quickly scrambled up, holding his now clawed up arms and sniffling.

Anti spit sand out of his mouth and shook his head, blinking rapidly like he was trying to process where he was. He looked up to see Jamie’s tails then his ruined arms and gasped. The sea dragon swam up and tried to grab Jamie into a hug but the cuddlefish skirted away with fear in his eyes.

“J-jamie… I’m.. I sorry I didn’t mean to-” Anti stammers, his hands feeling heavy with the weight of what he did, “Please… please don’t tell the others!”

Jamie sniffles and rubs his face, studying his older brother. Anti pleads with his eyes at Jamie and Jamie can’t help but nod his head. The others don’t need to know about this.

Anti’s shoulders droop, “Thanks JJ… I’m sorry, just. Let them know I’ll be back later okay?” Jamie doesn’t even get a chance to respond before Anti propels away in a wave of bubbles.

Jamie sighs eyeing his arms as his stomach twisted with worry for Anti. He hoped his brother was okay, but he and Jackie usually went off to fight things when they got angry. Especially nowadays…

Trying to act quickly so he doesn’t alert any other predators with his blood, Jamie thinks back to Henriks bandaging methods. So he swims over to the kelp forest. He pries off leaves from the creepvines and carefully wraps his arms up so no evidence of Anti’s scratches remains. Satisfied with his work, he grins and heads for home.

“Jamie, why are your arms wrapped up?” Henrik asks as soon as Jamie enters the cave. Jackie and Marvin who were having a half-hearted wrestle match in the back, perk up their heads to see. Jamie’s mind reels as he tries to think of an excuse. He taps his arms then swims over to touch Henrik’s little band he likes to wear on his arm, a weird white suit symbol in shining blue. Jamie then pokes Henrik’s heart before pointing at his own.

Henrik breaks into a huge grin before he reaches over and rustles Jamie’s hair, “Aw! How cute! Are you trying to be like your big brother? Maybe I should teach you to heal then!” Henrik laughs and Jamie joins, smiling timidly. He quickly glanced behind his shoulder and looks back out to the ocean water, hoping Anti was okay.

That hope was still present, even now as Jamie looked off into the distance, his heart aching for his brother. No one had seen Anti in so long, because now not even Jackie was brave enough to go down and face him. And they still had no plans on how to save Jack. Everything felt like it was changing. Jamie could feel something in the currents and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

Jamie swam around aimlessly in the kelp forest, trying to see if any fish buddies wanted to play today. But his heart wasn’t really in it. Jackie and Chase had been fighting today and Schneep had been more on edge than usual, sticking to working on stuff in his metal pile. No one had even seen where Marvin went to. Jamie sighed, hugging his arms.

He missed Anti. Even if Anti was mean to him, he loved Anti so much. He loved watching Anti play pranks on the others, especially when he let Jamie join. He loved how strong and confident Anti seemed on the outside and how big his heart was, even if he kept it hidden.

Jamie would give anything to see him now, safe and sound. Back home…

Jamie’s wandering thoughts were cut off as he spotted a flash of green and yellow in the distance. The cuddlefish curiously swims closer and hears loud cursing in between the vines. Jamie’s heart stops.

“A…Anti…?” He softly calls through the vines. The rustling stops and just a little ways away pops out a dark green head of hair.

Anti and Jamie stare at each other in surprise. Jamie feels tears well up, finally seeing his brother. He spurs forward, almost completely forgetting about Anti’s current state.

Almost.

The sea dragon’s face breaks out into a sinister grin as he locks eyes with Jamie.

“Oh good,” He laughs, “ I was hoping one of you freaks would be around here!” Anti cackles madly as he shoves and tears through the vines. Jamie’s blood runs cold and he halts, quickly backing up through the vines.

“Anti..” he whispers, feeling his tails begin to shake.

“You, are just the thing I need,” Anti giggles, pushing himself through the water towards Jamie, “I’ve been looking for a good punching bag!” Anti bares his fangs into a wolfish smile as he barrels down at Jamie.

Jamie acts quickly, pushing to the side as Anti comes zooming past. But Anti is still quick and one of his tails wraps around Jamie’s own, pulling him down towards the predator’s level.

Anti laughs madly as he flings Jamie through the vines. Jamie tumbles and hits the hard rocky crags below, his head swimming. The cuddlefish flinches as he hears Anti push through the vines to find him. But Jamie knows this area better than him. He quickly ducks down under the crag and squeezes himself into a Jamie sized hole, trying to keep his breathing quiet.

“Come out, come out little fishie~” Anti sings through the water above, “Don’t hide from me! Don’t you want to have some fun~?” Jamie gulps, his head throbbing from his earlier impact. Suddenly, a clawed hand is yanking on his tail and Anti’s face pops out from the crag upside down.

“Gotcha!”

The claws dig deep into the flesh of his tail and Jamie screams, trying to pull away. But Anti is too strong. He yanks Jamie out of his hiding spot and drags the cuddlefish back to open water, keeping his captive upside down. Jamie whirls around, disoriented and he tries to grab or hit Anti.

“Well, this is just sad. You can’t even defend yourself can you?” Anti taunts, dragging Jamie’s face up to his level.  
Jamie’s heart won’t stop pounding but he uses all his strength to push his upper body forward and he chomps on Anti’s nose.

The sea dragon howls in pain and Jamie drops down into the kelp. Jamie wastes no time to speed back into the dense forest to try to hide again. Anti is bellowing in anger, slashing through the creepvines with brute force.  
It’s not long before he finds Jamie and he pins him to the ground, face first.

Jamie whimpers as he feels Anti claw into his back.

“No more hide and seek!” Anti snarls. Jamie feels Anti yank one of his arms back painfully. Then he hears a sickening crack. Jamie screams, tears instantly welling up in his eyes. Anti yanks again and Jamie screams louder. Then suddenly, Jamie’s arm is free.

It falls to the ground and Jamie whimpers, his face even wetter with tears. He turns painfully around to try to see what caused Anti to stop.

Anti is staring at him wide-eyed, looking terrified.

“A-Anti…” Jamie calls hoarsely, trying to lift himself up. Anti flinches backward, his body shaking.  
His head twitches from side to side, his hands gripping and ungripping.

“J-jam….!” Anti breathes, but before he finishes his body convulses violently. Jamie shouts in fear, scrambling to try to reach his brother. Anti screams, his eyes turning black before they roll up in the back of his head and he falls onto the rocks.

Jamie pulls himself up and swims over to Anti, bending over to see if he’s still breathing. He is, but shallowly. Jamie bends down to see if he can help, but as he does he hears strange mumbling coming from Anti’s ears. Jamie leans in and briefly, hears what sounds like the white suits through the black circles on Anti’s ears, and he hears something about collection.

Jamie hurried backward and stares conflicted at Anti. He could save him right now… but he would lead the white suits to the rest of his brothers. And Jamie was starting to feel faint from the blood leaking from his back and tail into the water. With a heavy heart, Jamie takes one final look at Anti’s body before he turns tail and swims home.

Or at least tries to. Jamie makes it out of the forest and to the middle of the shallows before his vision doubles. He dips in the water, trying to right himself but the pain is too much. Jamie’s vision goes black as he falls to the sand below.

Chase was the one who found him first. Jamie was lying motionless in the sand in the middle of the shallows. And he had to shoo away a little too curious boneshark with a quick smack of his tail.

“Jamie…! Jamie!” Chase said shaking Jamie’s shoulder, trying to wake him up. Chase accidentally jostled Jamie’s broken arm and the cuddlefish hybrid startled awake with a pained yelp. Chase mumbled quick apologies and helped his little brother sit up. Jamie continued to wince and hold his injured arm, shaking from blood loss. But luckily the bleeding on his back and tail has stopped.

“Who did this to you?” Chase asked with an edge in his voice. Jamie shuddered and was flashed back to the moment of Anti’s fit from so long ago. Anti didn’t mean to do this… his brothers didn’t need to know.

Jamie shook his head and curled up on himself, letting his shaking get worse. Chase quickly huddled the boy in his arms and started moving them back to the cove.

“It’s okay Jamie… you’re gonna be okay,” chase assured in a soft voice. Jamie sighed, feeling guilty for lying. But the less his brothers knew, the less they had to worry. Jamie rested his head against Chase’s shoulder and closed his eyes, letting his swimming lull him back to sleep.

\------

The white suits managed to scoop up Anti and take him back to the lava zone base with no trouble. The sea dragon was knocked out for the count. They weren’t sure why his memories kept being triggered, but they could bet it was the other brothers meddling where they didn’t belong. Such a shame the rest of them wouldn’t be much use right now.

They deposited Anti into the chamber where they first deleted his memories so he could heal and they could repair what they could.

Jack was in the containment aquarium not too far away, cuddling with a little green-eyed Peeper he named Sam. He was feeling so lost and alone. His arms and tails ached from all the experiments being done lately and his mind was spent with the exhaustion of it all. He just wanted to sleep, but sleeping usually meant the next time he woke up he would have another white suit session.

He sighed deeply, looking at the top of the aquarium for what felt like the millionth time, heart aching for his brothers. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine their faces. But when he did he suddenly found himself somewhere else. Like he was stuck in the deep sea. And he was there with Anti.

Jack blinked, “Anti?” He asked, his voice echoing throughout the space.

Anti turned around and stared at him with a slightly scared expression, “W-what the hell?” He breathed, “You’re… here, you’re not supposed to be here…”

“What do you mean?” Jack questioned, trying to surge forward towards his brother, but it was like he was stuck in place.

Anti twitched and his eyes flickered from yellow-tinted to normal, “Jack,” He finally said, “I remember you... I’m not supposed to. This is the place I forget.”

“…the white suits deleted your memories?” Jack whispered, not quite believing his ears,” That’s why you captured me?”

“I have to. I have to do as I’m told,” Anti droned almost robotically and Jack shuddered.

“Since when were you ever someone who did what they were told?” Jack found himself half yelling, half laughing.

“Like when Chase told you never to eat an acid shroom but you did anyway and you got so sick for like a week!”

Anti shuddered as a smile came on his face, but it quickly left as he jerked and twitch.

“Why are you here?” Anti seemed to whisper to himself, voice breaking yet he looked angry, “Is this some new way to torture me… the white suits are such sick fucks.”

Jack felt a lump in his throat and wished with all his might he could do something.

“We’re gonna save you Anti. You’re not alone. Neither of us are…” Jack smiled slightly, “I know everyone is looking for us. They’re gonna save us.”

Anti looked Jack in the eye finally, “I hope so, Jack..”

Anti suddenly flinched and gripped his head, his form glitching and twitching like a busted monitor. His eyes flashed bright yellow as he held back strangled screams.

“Anti!” Jack shouted.

“It’s.. time for me to forget again,” Anti growled through gritted teeth. He looked back up at Jack and his expression softened, “It was nice to remember you again though… even for a little bit…” Anti cried out and gripped his head harder as his form flickered rapidly.

“No Anti!!” Jack cried, trying to reach out and help. But then Anti screamed and everything flashed to white.

Jack woke back up in the aquarium, feeling more tired and exhausted than ever. He gripped his fists and held them to his chest, a fire starting to burn brighter in his heart. He wasn’t gonna give up just yet.

Anti woke up back on a lab table in the facility, his face wet with tears. He growled, feeling like something important happened. But like always, he couldn’t remember what.


	10. Nightmare Jackie

The boys didn’t quite understand why things were still so tense. Maybe it was just them growing up.

Schneep had been withdrawing from their sleeping piles at night, opting instead to sleep in their ever-growing pile of scrap metal. The other boys tried to ask why, but Henrik just said it was more comfortable. The boys didn’t understand, maybe it was just a stalker thing.

Marvin had been going out on his own more and more. When Chase tried to ask why Marvin looked away almost guilty. He was really scared about losing himself again so he wanted to spend time alone during the day.

And Jackie… he was always going off looking for fights. He’d come home with minor cuts and big bruises, looking tired and worn out. He would quickly fall asleep before anyone could talk to him and he’d be out of the cave before anyone woke up. 

But now... It was approaching nightfall and no one had seen hide or tail of Jackie. The others all exchanged worried glances before agreeing they should go look for him together.

They found him just at the gap between the shallows and the kelp forest. He was breathing heavily, staring out in the distance. His arms and back were cut deeply with various slashes and bite marks and his tail wasn’t looking much better. Jamie gasped seeing the state of him, causing the Reaper to turn around.

His hands and face were covered in the sickly yellow of fish blood, practically dripping. But Jackie’s eyes, they were pitch black and glazed over, gazing at the brothers with no recognition.

Marvin shivered seeing him, his mind flashing back to facing Anti. He began to shake and he felt something inside him begin to twitch and spark.

Chase slowly swam forward, hands up. “Jackie…” He started slowly, “I-it’s us... Just calm down… okay?”

Jackie bared his fangs and gave a small roar, spreading out his claws, looking ready to pounce. Throwing all caution to the wind Jamie spurred forward, hoping to grab Jackie in a hug and snap him out of this.

But Jackie was too fast. He roared and shot out his mandibles, slashing Jamie in the side. Jamie cried out in pain but before he could react Jackie had his hands around his throat. Jamie choked and tried to pry Jackie’s hands off him but the reaper gripped around his neck harder, roaring.

Schneep’s instincts flared in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. Before he even registered it, he was headbutting full force into Jackie, sending the Reaper spiraling back and Jamie floated down, coughing and hacking.

Henrik growled, something deep inside him screaming for blood. His bottom fangs grew and he screeched as he flew at Jackie, digging his teeth deep into his tail. Jackie screamed and he thrashed around, trying to shake Schneep off. He managed to flick his tail strong enough to send the stalker flying back. Jamie tried to catch him before he hit the rock form behind them. But Schneep was heavier than expected and the two flew back into the rocks with a loud crash. Jamie’s head hit the rock at full force and he was knocked out, a spot of blood starting to trickle from his head and into the water. Henrik gasped trying to assess what just happened. He snapped out his rage and quickly fretted over Jamie.

“Oh god… Jamie!” He whispered, looking terrified. He quickly started to apply pressure to Jamie’s wounds.

“Jamie!” Chase cried. Everything was happening so fast, he had almost no time to react. He was ready to swim over and help Henrik when he heard sputtering and gasping breaths behind him.

He looked over to see Marvin heaving, and Chase’s heart dropped when he saw Marvin’s second pair of eyes open. Chase rushed to Marvin’s side and quickly grabbed his shoulders. He could feel his brother shuddering and twitching.

“Marvin! Marvin, please calm down!” Chase pleaded, “You can’t lose control now too, please Marvin!”

Marvin tried to respond but nothing came out of his mouth. He wheezed trying to get his breathing under control. Jackie seemed to sense the distress and the presence of another predator and he roared at Marvin and Chase, spreading out his mandibles in challenge.

In response to the threat, Marvin’s eyes fully turned pink and his breathing quieted, his body becoming robotically stiff. He kicked himself away from Chase and slammed into Jackie. Chase cursed and tried to get his bearings back.

Marvin screeched at Jackie, growing his blue claws and digging them into Jackie’s arms. The Reaper yelled but quickly got over the pain and pushed Marvin into the rocks, sticking his mandibles into the warper’s flesh. Marvin winced but otherwise didn’t respond.

A warp gate began to open behind Jackie and he could feel the pull. But Jackie opened his mouth and roared his loudest roar into Marvin’s face. The blast was so loud, the other boys could feel the shockwave. Marvin’s eyes flickered from pink to blue as his body twitched against the blast. The portal vanished into bubbles as Jackie continued to roar. Marvin was starting to sag, the sight of blood leaking from his ears as his eyes continued to flicker.

Chase panicked and quickly barrelled into Jackie, pulling him away. Marvin slid away from the rocks limply, falling to the seafloor with a dull thud, his eyes wide open, gazing far away.

Chase growled in anger, pushing Jackie back. Jackie growled back and pushed Chase down to the sand, grasping his hands against Chase’s neck. Chase gasped, feeling his claws in his neck and he struggled.

He glared at Jackie and quickly turned in the reaper’s grasp, “Fucking SNAP OUT OF IT!” Chase screamed sending his tail full force onto Jackie’s head.

Jackie’s head snapped to the side and for a brief tense second, nothing happened. Then Jackie stared at Chase with big blue eyes. He blinked like he was having trouble focusing.

“C-Chase…?” He asked in a small, wavering voice. He winced and gasped like he couldn’t breathe, his arms shaking. His injuries were finally catching up to him as Jackie’s eyes rolled back and he fell on top of Chase limply.

Chase sighed and let his head fall back against the sand. He was relieved this was over, but he still needed to get up and help Schneep get the boys back to the cave. He rolls over, letting Jackie fall off before he grabs him and drapes his arm over his shoulder. He swims over to Schneep, who is looking over Marvin with a worried expression.

Marvin’s eyes are still open and glossy, his head occasionally twitching. Henrik is trying to check Marvin’s ears and panicking slightly.

“Marvin… Marvin!” Henrik whispers, trying to get him to respond. Chase gently lays Jackie down by Jamie, who is no longer bleeding and sleeping peacefully. Chase then swims over and puts a hand on Schneep’s shoulder. The stalker jumps slightly before looking back at Chase.

“How is he?” Chase asks. Henrik shakes his head.

“I do not know…. He hasn’t moved…” Henrik starts, but is cut off by Marvin jerking upwards, gasping. His eyes flash pink for a second before he blinks and seems to come back to himself.

“Henrik…? Chase…?” Marvin wonders, looking around confused. He blinks, seeing the boys' injuries, and panics again. “Shit- did I?!”

Chase quickly shushes him and gently pats his shoulder. “It’s okay Marv… don’t worry about that right now. We need your help getting everyone home, can you warp?”

Marvin looks back to see Jamie and Jackie sleeping in the sand and bites his lip. He nods slowly, rising up.

“I… I think I can..” He mumbles. Schneep quickly goes to pick up Jamie and he cradles the little one in his arms. Chase picks up Jackie again and drapes him across his shoulders. Marvin concentrates and opens up a warp gate. The boys quickly go through.

Marvin settles against the wall once they’re back home and closes his eyes, tuckered out. Schneep hastily goes to get creepvine wraps and first aids to start wrapping up everyone’s wounds. Chase settles next to Marvin and sighs, trying to keep an eye on everyone.

After a while, Schneep finishes treating everyone. Jamie and Jackie slowly wake up to the others curled around them.

Jackie panics, images of blood and claws flashing through his head. He shouts and scrambles away, startling all the boys awake. Jackie is holding his head and gasping, muttering over and over.

“I’m sorry-! I-i… I’m so so sorry!” He feels the hot burn of tears on his face and soon he’s wrapped up in the arms of Jamie and Chase and Marvin. Jamie is petting Jackie’s hair and shushing him.

“Jackie please breathe… It’s okay…:” Chase tries to reassure.

“It’s not though,” Henrik speaks up and all the boys look up at him confused. Schneep is looking at the ground, trying not to stare them in the face.

“What.. what do you mean?” Marvin questions.

Schneep takes a deep breath before addressing his brothers.

“I think it’s time we split up.”


	11. After the Spilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written by JurassicRaptorcat on Tumblr

Chase shuddered awake from another nightmare and groaned at the bright light filtering onto his face. Sleep was a luxury he couldn’t afford since Chase lost his predator brothers' protection. The shallows were a safe spot usually but lately, Chase had noticed stalkers coming farther into the shallows than ever.

Chase yawned and floated up towards the surface a little to let the sun warm and wake him up. He didn’t think any of his brothers besides Jamie were left in the shallows. Jamie and he would visit from time to time but they didn’t stay together for more than a day.

Today was one such day they were going to meet up. Chase shook himself a little to invigorate himself before swimming off towards a particular cave that held bad memories. Jamie had stored the gun there and every time they met up he and Jamie would practice shooting the gun.

Chase loved shooting the gun and practicing hitting targets, something he was quite good at, but he didn’t feel comfortable keeping it. Jamie was of a different opinion and kept trying to get Chase to keep it for protection. While Jamie had his other prey buddies as alarms and the shallow cave system that the predators hadn’t found yet, Chase had nothing for protection.

By the time Jamie arrived Chase was already finished setting everything up and had even taken a few practice shots. Jamie looked at the targets, some scrap metal that had designs, in the distance that had black marks centered almost perfectly near the middle. He could only hope to hit the target let alone getting a shot.

“Bout time you arrived!” Chase yelled when he noticed Jamie behind him. He grinned to show that it was only fake anger and Jamie swam over to congratulate Chase on his aim.

“Bro it was nothing.” Chase grinned bashfully. It was odd to Jamie to see how Chase had grown since they split and now appeared to be an adult. Back when they were all together as a family he had barely noticed how his family growing bigger.

Chase handed the gun to Jamie. “Here why don’t why you take a turn.”

They spent the next few hours taking turns to shoot the makeshift targets until it was time for Jamie to leave. Chase swept him up into a crushing hug that had Jamie questioning where Chase got this newfound strength from. He didn’t notice Chase wincing as Jamie wrapped his tentacles around Chase’s waist and tail.

Chase watched Jamie leave until he couldn’t see him anymore and a Reaper roar echoed in the distance. “Bye.” He whispered. With a despondent look, Chase turned and made his way back to his lonely little home.

Schneep growled as another Stalker swam by too close for comfort. It swam away quickly knowing Schneep wasn’t one to mess with ever since the last Stalker who tried to steal from Schneep’s scrap pile had died. Schneep had taken to cutting open all the fauna of the nearby area to try and understand how they worked.

Twin screeches in the distance warned Schneep of two Stalkers battled it out over more scrap. Schneep growled and quickly checked to make sure his scrap pile was fine. He had grown more attached to it since he had finished physically growing. To the point that he now had a scar under his armband from a Stalker challenging him for his scrap. That particular Stalker had been Schneep’s first fauna he cut open. The other Stalker’s hadn’t come near his area for a few days afterward.

At least now he had a reason to wear the armband so his brothers wouldn’t tease him except Schneep hadn’t seen his brothers for a long time. There were times Schneep had attempted to leave his scrap pile and find his brothers, just to make sure they were ok. He would get as far as being out of sight from it before the thought of another Stalker stealing from it had him turning around with a shriek and diving towards his scrap pile to swim around it in an aggressive display. He was chained to his scrap pile.

There were times he became aware of how stupid it was to be so territorial of a scrap pile. Then a Stalker would swim near and Schneep would be growling at it. There was no hope for him, stuck where he was, but Schneep could hope his brothers were getting on better than he was.

Schneep fell asleep on his scrap pile to a Reaper’s roar in the distance.

Jackie roared in frustration as he missed the Sand Shark with his mandibles. The creature had been annoying him all day following after him and trying to attack when his back was turned. It was smarter than the rest of its kind using different tactics to attack.

Jackie growled as he kept his eyes steadily on the Sand Shark.

He was already hurt from a fight with another Reaper Leviathan in the area. Ever since he and his brothers had split up Jackie had been taking on more fights with other, bigger creatures. His roar could was loud enough to even make other Reaper’s pause for a moment.

The Sand Shark made another pass for Jackie’s blind spot only to rear back when Jackie sharply turned and released a roar into its face. His mandibles slashed forward and carved deep wounds into the Sand Shark’s face. It screeched in pain and swam away.

Jackie roared his victory and turned to go into the creepvines. He had a few cuts that needed bandaging from his fight and the Sand Shark.

A shriek in the distance had Jackie pausing in the middle of wrapping up his arm. It had sounded like Schneep. Jackie swam forward before stopping. They had split up for a good reason, there was no going back now.

Jackie turned and swam back out into the open water looking for his next meal.

When Marvin woke up he felt nauseous. He looked around to find himself in an unfamiliar spot. Fear gripped him.

“No! No no! Not again!” Marvin cried. He brought his hands up to see them covered faintly in blood.

Again.

He had been losing time lately, lots of time. One second he would be good swimming around and the next he would be in warper mode. There was no reason Marvin could think of for why he was going into warper mode lately. He at least got a faint warning right before it would happen with a low pitched whine in his ears.

Panicking, Marvin had learned, would also set him off into warper mode.

“Everything’s going to be ok,” Marvin whispered to himself repeatedly. Sometimes it was the only thing keeping him safe was to repeat those words to prevent him from going into warper mode.

Marvin curled up into a ball on the floor of wherever he was and squeezed his eyes shut. “Everything is ok. A-ok. Nothing wrong. Gonna be fine.” He whispered.

Sometimes blocking out the world helped Marvin calm down for a little bit and give him some peace. He could pretend he was curled up asleep right before his brothers and they were on their way now to lay down and rest. It never lasted long. Soon Marvin would be forced back into warper mode against his will.

All Marvin could do was try and survive. He lay curled up on the ground ignoring the Reaper’s roar in the distance.


	12. Enter the Ocean's Arms

Jackie was speeding as fast as he could through the Mushroom Forest, panting heavily and looking panicked. He was continuously looking behind him as if he was being chased by something. Yet, behind him seem to be a large trail of red. He was holding his side like his life depended on it but whatever wound he was holding was also spread down the side of his tail.

The reaper hybrid tried to focus on the sight of the kelp forest ahead. He only had to get there and things would be okay. He would find his brother and everything would be fine, granted Schneep even wanted to see him... It was his fault they all split up in the first place after all. Jackie shook his foggy head to get rid of such thoughts. He couldn’t think like that right now.

A terrifying roar sounded through the Mushroom trees behind him and Jackie flinched and started spurring to go faster. But he couldn’t keep up his normal speed, not with this injury. He spared another glance behind him to see a hint of the red mandibles of the reaper whose meal he ruined. A chill ran down Jackie’s spine as his heart hammered in his chest.

Jackie’s vision started to double from the blood loss and he dipped in his height through the tree mushrooms. He suddenly hit the base of one straight on, not being able to see exactly where it was. The merman spun out of control, vision fading as he fell through the cliff separating the mushroom forest and the kelp forest. He disappeared into the green below.

Henrik was laying down on the scrap pile he now called home, listening to a PDA he had heard a million times idly. He stared at the waves of the surface of the water above, watching as the creepvines blew in and out of view. He sighed, feeling listless. He was trying not to miss his brothers so much and failing. He never thought he would miss playing doctor for them, but here he was, almost wishing he had an excuse. Maybe he just needed another fish he needed to dissect, that seemed to distract him.

Schneep was jolted out of his train of thought by a loud crash that sounded not too far from his position. Henrik slowly got up and tried to peer through the vines to see if he could get a hint of what it was. Maybe another stalker had found some good salvage and dumped it down here from the mushroom forest. Henrik’s instincts seemed to growl hungrily at the thought.

He went forward, hoping he could snag it for his own collection. But he was surprised when he saw no glimmering metal in the ocean light. Instead, he saw the red and blue sight of a reaper’s tail but it was too small. And he could see a slight cloud of blood. He drew closer only to gasp.

“Jackie?!”

The stalker merman speeds forward and grabbed Jackie’s head, panic seizing his whole body. Jackie didn’t respond, his eyes closed shut and his breathing coming out in pained labored huffs.

“Mein god… Jackie-!” Henrik whispered, looking at the cloud of blood. It was the worst wound Henrik had ever seen. The gash spread from Jackie’s side down most of his tail. It was deep and gaping, too big to secure with bandages. Henrik swore he could see a hint of white bone through the cut and resisted the urge to vomit.

He had to stop the bleeding… somehow. He grabbed whatever loose material was around and frantically started wrapping what he could. A dark shadow passed over the two along with a shrieking roar. But the reaper moved on, unable to see the two through the dense forest of kelp.

Once he was finished with what he could, Henrik scooped up his little brother and cradled him to his chest. He had to think of something, if he didn’t do something Jackie could…

An idea popped into his head. A dangerous one…. But he didn’t really have a choice at this point. He spurred upwards, silently cursing the weight of his brother. Growing up was not making this easier. But he continued as fast as he could towards the shallows. He knew some of them were over there.

The white suits….

Ever since he was a kid first living in the shallows, Henrik would visit this white suit base. It was way smaller than the one they were made in. Simple, not too flashy. There weren’t big machines humming with electricity or huge blinking monitors. The white suits here always seemed to be studying something in their aquarium or fixing some fish up or studying them. Henrik was always fascinated with watching them, even if it meant danger for his brothers. He just wanted to learn.

The brothers had lost all hope in the white suits after everything that had happened. But the logical part of Henrik figured since they made all of them, they wouldn’t let them… they wouldn’t sit around if one of them was hurt, right?

This was the only place Schneep knew could help Jackie. He hadn’t been there in so long and he prayed that they hadn’t abandoned their base for some other location.

As he neared the base his heart caught in his throat. The lights in the base were dark.

“No…No... NO!” Henrik breathed. He swam as fast as he could to one of the windows and peered inside. Someone had to be there, please!

A face suddenly appeared behind the glass from where Schneep’s reflection was. Henrik screamed and scrambled back before the face cleaned the dust away from the window. Henrik could see a woman now, with dark curly black hair and dark skin. He blinked at her. She tapped her fingers against the glass, her head contained in a typical white suit helmet.

She mouthed what looked like “follow me” before pointing to a large hatch on the side of the base. Henrik hesitated, but a groan and pained whimper from Jackie shook his doubt and he swam for it.

The hull door opened with a shrill squeak into what looked like an airlock. But it was filled with water. Henrik sighed slightly in relief. Once he and Jackie were inside a red light blinked on above and a tinny robotic voice reverberated throughout the water.

Decontamination commencing... Please stand by.

Henrik held onto Jackie tighter, his eyes wide with fear. A couple of small jets popped out of the wall and sprayed a foul looking blue-white liquid into the water. Henrik coughed, the solution irritating his throat and eyes. It didn’t last long though and the murky semi-red water they brought in settled and seemed to clear. Another beep followed by a now green light signaled the door to the base opening. Henrik quickly swam through and nearly barrelled into the white suit.

“Woah, Woah! Slow down!” She piped through the speaker on her suit, “What’s going on-” She cut herself off once she saw the steady flow of blood coming from Jackie and covered her mouth.

“Oh my!” She quickly stomped to what looked like an operating table through the water, “Quickly come settle him here!”

Henrik quietly compiled and helped the white suit lay Jackie on the table. His face was way too pale, the bags under his eyes looked almost purple in the dim blue light of the base. His breaths come out in ragged shaky bursts. Henrik blinked to keep himself from crying.

The white suit quickly swam to one side of the room and grabbed what looked like a large light. She set it behind the table and switched it on and it took a few seconds before it flickered weakly.

“I apologize,” She mumbled, swimming back so she could look at the wound, “We’ve been out of power for sometime….” Henrik looked around now that he could see better. He saw what looked like lab equipment: beakers, waterproof charts, and monitors, pictures of bones and muscles of the fish surrounding the area. Henrik recognized a couple from his own mini-experiments. His throat closed slightly and he swallowed. Was he becoming like a white suit?

He looked around to see a few large cages in the corner, containing some larger fish. A tiny boneshark, a few peepers, a crashfish, a jellyray. But they all looked like they had been healed in some way. Some wore clean white bandages, others seemed to have fins splinted to keep them from moving. All of them were chomping on what looked like fresh meals. Henrik was perplexed. He had never seen a white suit being kind to another fish before.

A rustling behind him caused Henrik to look around to see the white suit grabbing a couple of tools: what looked like string, needles, a syringe filled with clear liquid, and a wicked looking scalpel.

“You’re very fortunate I was here, I can certainly fix your br-!” a small squeak escaped her lips as Schneep grabbed her wrist and snarled in her face, but he looked more scared than angry.

“Don’t-!… Don’t hurt him.” He breathed, “please…”

The white suits paused before giving him a small smile.

“I’m not going to hurt him, Henrik.” Henrik was caught off guard by the use of his name and the white suit pulled her hand from his grasp gently before turning to work on Jackie. She carefully inserted the syringe into his upper arm and slowly Jackie began to relax, his head falling lightly to the table. She looped the thick looking string to a needle and started to press into the skin, looking like she was trying to pull the sides of his cut together. Henrik watched above her, fascinated.

‘How... How do you know mein name?” Schnnep asked quietly. The white suit chuckled softly.

“I was there when you were created. Though there, we used to call you SH-003.” She concentrated on a second on a particularly tough spot and winced slightly as a soft whimper left Jackie’s mouth.

“And we called Jackie RL-006… I much prefer your chosen names though,” She said with a smile. Henrik swam to the other side of the table to watch her work better as well as talk to her face to face.

“How were you there when we were created? This base... We weren’t made here,” Henrik questioned.

“No, you’re right. This base wasn’t made for heavy experimenting. We use this for observation and research.” She reached under the table and pulled out a jar of some sort. She opened it and put a generous amount on the still bleeding parts of the wound. Jackie seemed to sigh slightly, his face softening and the bleeding died down. “We haven’t been to the main branch in quite some time…” she commented, continuing her work.

“The main branch? Are all the white suits from there?”

The white suit chuckled again. “Is that what you boys call us?” Henrik flushed red slightly and coughed, “Well.. you do all wear white….”

She laughed again, “Well I suppose so. But yes, we all came from the main branch. That main base was our headquarters for all the researchers from Altera,” Henrik looked confused, so she expanded, “our home planet.. Well company more like it. Not every, how you call them “white suit” is part of the main branch now though.”

Her face seemed to darken some.

“We all came here to research and see what we could do with the planet’s resources. But some of our group instead chose to use our limited supervision here to run cruel experiments on the wildlife.” She met Henrik’s eyes for a second, “I’m sure you’re familiar?”

Henrik was suddenly reminded of a memory he had long since repressed. The sounds of screaming and tearing, water tanks filling with bolts of lightning. He shuddered but nodded, holding his arms.

“A lot of us didn’t come here to harm others. We came here to help people. Seeing such experiments broke our hearts….” She paused to use the scalpel to cut the string she had finished tying. She grabbed what looked like a roll of seaweed bandages and began to wrap Jackie’s tail.

“They wanted to begin tougher experiments on you boys…” She said grimly, “But I wouldn’t stand for it. My team and I threatened to report the entire twisted thing to the whole of the company to try to stop them. But they wouldn’t. They believed down here.. They could do anything.”

“We all hatched a plan to steal you boys away, so you could grow up in the ocean… The ones on our side were a bigger group than theirs. We created a hatch for you to escape from and stole all the sea moths and equipment we could to set up bases around here so we could observe you. But not interfere, so you could grow up on your own….” She looked up at Henrik and smiled, “You were always the most curious of the bunch Henrik. Don’t think we didn’t see you sneaking around.” She chuckled as Schneep turned redder and looked away.

She continued, “The others weren’t happy with us… they wanted you all back. But we threatened to fight tooth and nail to keep you all safe. The company here split into two factions. the white suits I guess as you know them.. They’re the Altterra arms. We like to call ourselves the Ocean’s arms. Since we want to help the life here in whatever way we can.” After wrapping Jackie up in the seaweed she pulled out clean white bandages.

Henrik was mulling this all over in his head. “If you were watching us… why did you let them take Jack?!” He suddenly yelled slamming his hands on the table. The white suits fumbled with the bandages for a second before looking up at Schneep surprised.

“They… they took Jack?”

“Yeah… when ve were still very small… it’s been so long now,” Schneep said, sinking slightly. “They have Anti too… and they’ve changed him somehow.”

The white suit set down the bandages and held her head slightly, “i... We had no idea! Most of our bases have had severe power outages and damages over the past years or so because we’re running on fumes from the split…”

Suddenly her head snapped up and she gritted her teeth looking outraged.

“Of course…” She yelled and kicked at a nearby piece of equipment, “Those bastards! They caused all this! They destroyed our supplies and cut off our connection to Altera so they could get away with their sick plans!” She rested on a nearby counter and held her face in her hands.

Schneep slowly swam over.

“I’m so sorry Henrik… we tried to protect you and your brothers... And we failed…”

Henrik hesitated before placing a hand on her shoulder, “Hey it’s okay... Well, it’s not, really. But you all did all you could…” He tried encouraging. “And well… you saved Jackie… that’s worth something.”

The white suit smiled at him.

“We’re gonna do everything we can to get your brothers back to you Henrik... I promise.”


	13. A Dire Spat

After a couple more minutes, the white suit had finished wrapping up Jackie completely and she nodded, satisfied with her work. She swam to the back and brought back a machine that held a strange bag and a plastic tube. She reached under the table again and pulled out a bag that seemed to be labeled “Reaper” and hooked it up to the machine before hooking the tube up to Jackie. The yellow liquid flowed from the bag into Jackie’s arm.

“There, that should do it. It looks like he’ll be alright but since he’s sedated and needs to get some blood back I’d recommend staying here for the night,” she turned to look at Henrik, “Is that alright with you? Or do you need to get back to your brothers?”

Henrik looked away almost guilty, “No it’s fine… my brothers… we all split up a while ago…”

The white suit looked sad for a second, “I see…” She swam over to shut down the lights and put the equipment away. “Well I know it’s not comfortable, but I don’t think you boys would like being moved to the aquarium. So you’re welcome to rest here.” She swam over to a door that looked like it connected to the rest of the base and punched in a code to the wall.

She looked over to Henrik, “You can push this button here if you need anything at all. Just call for Dr. Danan. That’s me.” She smiled, “I’ll be around in a little while to get you something to eat.”

Henrik nodded his head, “Thank you Dr. Danan… for everything.”

Dr. Danan grinned, “I’m so glad I could help.” The door beeped and flashed green and Danan swam through, leaving the door shut with a heavy metal clang.

Schneep rubbed his arm awkwardly and looked around the dim dark room. He was really glad he could see in the dark. But, he felt very conflicted right now. He thought for so long that all-white suits were evil people out to hurt him and his brothers. Ones that would destroy anything and anyone in their path. People that used others as playthings.

But they were good white suits. Henrik still couldn’t believe it. All these years he felt like he was betraying his brothers by trying to learn from the bases here. But, maybe now… he could learn. His heart seemed to soar at the thought but quickly it came crashing down to earth.

His brothers... They wouldn’t understand. They would see the Ocean’s Arms the same as any other white suit. And clearly, the Ocean’s arms were a target from the others of their kind. If Schneep came here… he could accidentally lead his brothers to be captured too.

And what if learning more stuff changed his attitude? What if he started to be cruel and ruthless because of experiments? Is that what a thirst for knowledge does to you? Henrik shuddered at the thought. Maybe it was time he left all his pretending behind… he would never want to become like a white suit.

But then who would heal his brothers?

Henrik scoffed and laughed bitterly. It’s not like he was taking care of them anymore anyway... Not since the split. He couldn’t even do anything to help Jackie today.

With a heavy sigh, Schneep swims over and moves to sit against the legs of the table holding Jackie. Hearing his younger brother’s now even breathing seemed to calm Henrik down and he closes his eyes, letting their breathing fall in sync.

When he next opens his eyes he can see the room is filled with dim blue light. He looks out the window and sees the ocean has lit up from the morning sun. He stretches and winces slightly, his back tense from sleeping upright all night. He blinks as his tail bumps something to his right and he looks to see a plate of brain coral and an oculus, Schneep’s favorite. His stomach growls and he licks his lips, just now realizing he slept through dinner without meaning to. He quickly digs in, savoring the flavor. He hadn’t had a good meal like this in a while.

Just as he about to finish, Schneep is startled and nearly chokes as he hears Jackie shift behind him. He swims upwards and positions himself so he’s right above Jackie just as Jackie slowly blinks open his eyes.

He blinks several times before he seems to focus. Then he reaches up and rubs an eye like he’s not quite believing what he’s seeing.

“H…Henrik…?” He croaks and Schneep laughs, wiping away tears of joy.

“Oh, Jackie… thank god you are alright!”

Jackie stiffly pushes himself up and accidentally yanks on the tube in his arm, causing him to yelp in shock. He snaps his head down to stare at the new contraption.

“What… what is this?” He wonders before he finally takes in his surroundings, his eyes wide. Schneep quickly swims back in front of him and holds up his hands to try to calm him.

“Now Jackie I know this looks bad but-!”

“YOU TOOK ME TO THE WHITE SUITS?!” Jackie screams at Henrik. Schneep winces back and tries to speak.

“Jackie please just listen to me!”

“No, I’m not listening to anything you have to say, TRAITOR!” Jackie growls as he yanks the iv from his arm then yelps at the pain. He snarls and spurs away from the table, now staring at his bandaged tail and looking angrier.

“How could you even THINK to ask the white suits for help? Have you forgotten everything they’ve done to us?!”

“YOU WERE GONNA DIE!” Henrik finally shouts, giving Jackie pause. Henrik held back tears and shakily exhaled, “You… you were dying Jackie… I didn’t know what else to do…”

The boys stood there in silence for a second, neither able to look at each other.

“Besides…” Henrik finally spoke, “they… these guys aren’t white suits…” Jackie scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Oh, they’re not white suits? Then who’s that?” Jackie points at the window that leads back to the base and Henrik can see Dr. Danan staring back.

“Jackie no! She’s not- Dana-!”

“Oh! So it has a name now?! You TALKED to her?!” Jackie screams again, balling his hands into fists. “How the hell is that not a white suit?! Why are you continuing to LIE TO ME?” Jackie roars and knocks over the table he was on with a strong swing of his tail. Equipment goes flying everywhere and Henrik holds up his arms to keep from being hit.

“Jackie just calm down and let me explain!” Schneep begs but Jackie quickly turns and growls in his face.

“I’m not listening to you. Not ever again!” Jackie’s eyes bore into Henrik’s and Henrik can feel the betrayal in his little brother’s eyes.

“I would have rather died than be saved by a white suit.”

Jackie spurs past Schneep and uses his mandibles to break through the glass of the base. Jackie gives one more lingering look of hatred at Schneep before he disappears off into the blue.

Henrik watches him go, heart heavier than ever.

\-----

Jackie swam as fast as he could away from Henrik and that awful white suit base. He felt so betrayed… had Henrik forgotten all the white suits had done to them? How they stole Jack? How they torture Anti? And the stuff with Marvin… that had to be because of the White suits too. What if he was gonna lose Henrik to the white suits? But… it seems like Schneep would do it willingly, and that terrified Jackie.

But he also didn’t see why he should care. It was Schneep’s suggestion that they all split up. So what if he joined the white suits? It’s obvious he didn’t want to see them anymore…

Jackie scrubbed away stray tears of frustration from his eyes. None of this was fair. If he could just control his instincts, none of this would have happened. It was all his fault he was so lost and alone right now.

Sharp pain in his tail halted his getaway and he stopped to look at his tail. Through the bandages, a slight stain of red and yellow was appearing. Jackie bit back a groan of pain. He must have swum too fast… he almost forgot he was injured.

He felt the dull ache of pain rise up from his tail to where the injury ended at his side. He gripped his side and huffed, finally feeling exhaustion creep through his body with his anger fading. He gritted his teeth, hating feeling this weak. But he needed to find somewhere to rest for now, until he could swim again.

He looked around his surroundings to recognize a couple of familiar pieces of wreckage around. He was close to Aurora. Which… was a little too close to his brothers than he would have liked right now. But he didn’t really have a choice right now. And the areas where he could hunt were way too dangerous with an injury like this.

He slowly swam towards the shape of the Aurora through the water and once he was close looked around for a decent place to hide away for a while. He settled for being under a half-broken piece of an old seamoth and scooted himself so his injury would be covered by the broken bits of the shield. He buried his face slightly in the warm sand and sighed at the warmth. Quickly, he fell asleep.

Jackie was startled awake later by a roar directly above his head. He gasped and sprung upwards but accidentally hit his tail and head against the abandoned ship’s hull. He groaned in pain and rubbed his soreness away before he dared to look up. He saw the familiar sight of a giant, kindly reaper.

“  
Hey…” Jackie smiled at the Reaper and turned so he could see her better, “It’s been a while, giant mama reaper!” The reaper roared in response and Jackie laughed, “You look so grim though! What’s the matter?” He pauses, “heh… mama grim might be a good name for you…” He was feeling kinda dizzy.

The reaper huffed some and moved to shove her face near Jackie’s injury as if she could smell it even though it wasn’t currently bleeding.

“Oh,” Jackie commented, “That’s why you look worried. Look, Mama Grim, if I may call you that, I’m fine! No need to worry AH-!”

Jackie was caught off guard as the Mama Reaper swam down and gently used her fangs to grab Jackie’s hood and yank him out of his hiding place. She then dangled the little merman out of her mouth, like a mama cat carrying her young, and started swimming away to the depths.

‘Oh okay, I guess I’m coming with you then,” Jackie muttered as he was swept away. He didn’t have the energy to fight her right now. Plus, he really didn’t want to either. So he just let the Reaper whish him away.

Mama Grim brought Jackie to her little nest a little ways below the sunken Aurora. Jackie could see as he approached the dried and broken remains of what looked like reaper eggs. But, they looked well, kinda ancient. Jackie felt a little pang of pain in his heart. She was probably just as lonely as he felt right now.

The reaper set down Jackie gently in the nest and then slowly wrapped around him. She tipped her head down towards him, making him bend down as if to sleep, then blew hot air on him. Jackie got the message. Rest now, child, she seemed to say. Jackie didn’t argue. This was the first time he felt safe and comfortable in weeks. He was out like a light in minutes.

Jackie spent the next couple of weeks healing with Mama Grim. At first, she wouldn’t let him leave the nest at all. She would roar if he swam even an inch away. She brought him food and watched him while he slept and constantly sniffed his injury to make sure it was okay. Jackie felt a little uncomfortable at first with all the fussing, but he got used to it. It was nice to have some creature in this ocean that cared about him.

After he started to feel better, Mama Grim let him swim out into open water. She showed him the best fish hunting grounds and where to avoid other hostile fish. A lot of this Jackie knew from his own experience, but the ones he didn’t know truly surprised him. The two spent so much time together, gradually Jackie was able to understand the Reaper’s body language.

It was strange, this little relationship, but nice. Jackie even wondered if once he was fully healed if Mama Grim would let him train with her to become a better fighter. She probably knew a bunch of other reapers! The thought actually excited him. His thoughts when Mama Grim first brought him here was he needed to get out right away. But.. he really didn’t have a home to go to anymore. And the thought of staying with Mama Grim actually sounded… really nice.

He figured, for now, he’d let his injury heal all the way, then he’d find a better place close by. Mama Grim was probably only being so motherly to him because of that, so he’d just stay until things got better.

Then one day, Mama Grim was confused to find Jackie not up and about, ready to face the day like normal. He was curled up in a ball between her tail, shaking like a leaf. Mama Grim huffed gently on him and got a cough in response. She gently nudged him over to see his face was flushed deep red and he was panting feverishly. The older reaper could even feel the heat of his face and tail through the water near him. Something was terribly wrong.


	14. Together in Sickness

Jamie and Chase were together at shooting practice, Chase blasting shot after shot while Jamie silently cheered him on. It felt good to be together again, but both had small pits in their hearts. They knew this wasn’t gonna last long.

Chase was in the middle of firing a well-aimed shot right towards the center of the target when a loud roar sounded from outside. Chase was startled and the gun flew upwards, driving the blast into the cave wall above. Jamie scuttled backward to avoid a couple of falling debris and Chase quickly swam over mumbling apologies. They both stopped when they heard the strange noise again echo outside. It sounded like a reaper but it wasn’t its usual angry roar. It sounded… almost sad? The boys looked at each other in concern. What was a reaper doing in the shallows? Chase silently nodded his head to Jamie and held his gun at the ready just in case. Jamie bit his lip but nodded before they both made their way to open water.

Not far off they saw a huge Reaper scanning its way through the reefs as if looking for something. It roared out again, but the boys could see it had something dangling from its mouth. And it looked familiar.

The boys nervously looked at one another before they started swimming towards the reaper. Once in range, the reaper whipped its head around at them and narrowed its eyes. But then, its expression seemed to soften, and it lets out a distressed whine. It slowly swam towards the boy before gently placing the thing she had in her mouth onto the sand.

“Jackie!” Chase cried as he sped down towards the sand. Jackie lay there panting and shivering, looking like he was in pain. His tail was bandaged and when Chase went to lift up his face to look at him, he could feel intense heat rising from his skin. Jamie swam over too, looking distressed and gently tapping on Jackie’s shoulder to try to wake him. The reaper merman didn’t respond.

“What…” Chase started before looking up to the Reaper, “What happened?” Chase then realized that was a stupid question since he couldn’t understand the reaper. The reaper roared sadly before huffing warm air down on the boys. Chase lifted Jackie’s bangs away from his face and stared down at him in concern. “How did this happen?”

The reaper seemed to be getting more and more distressed, roaring, and whining as the boys tried to assess Jackie’s state. Jamie rose and gently placed a hand on the reaper’s forehead, hoping to calm it. He was shocked slightly though when suddenly he could hear her.

“ _Please. Please help baby. Scared. Too hot, too still! Help help baby.”_

Jamie blinked and opened his mouth to whisper, “Don’t worry, okay?” He smiled and patted her head softly. The reaper seemed to calm down slightly and huffed warm air on Jamie and he giggled slightly. He swam back down to find Chase gaping at him.

“Dude… how did you do that?” He gasped. Jamie titled his head in confusion.

“You... You were growling like a reaper, J.” Jamie blinked wide-eyed and stared down at his hands. “Could you... Understand it?”

Jamie nodded and pantomimed putting his hand on her forehead then tapped his head by his ear. He whispered, “Scared. Jackie is her baby.”

Chase was still gaping slightly. How ironic was it that the brother who hardly spoke could talk to other creatures? He shook his head and set his jaw, “Well we better hurry and find Schneep so we can figure out what’s wrong.” Chase floated up and hefted Jackie into his arms, holding him close to his chest. He was so hot, it was like he took a dip in a thermal vent.

As soon as Chase and Jamie moved to leave, the reaper roared after them. It looked like she wanted to follow. Chase gave Jamie a look before the smaller merman swam over and put a hand on her mandible.

“ _Be back, okay? Stay please?”_ He growled softly. The reaper looked sad but seemed to understand. She swam backward before settling herself into a ball in the sand. Jamie smiled slightly and gave her a wave before he returned to Chase. The two quickly sped off to the kelp forest to try to find Schneep.

Henrik was twiddling with an old broke PDA using a strange device that has a thin square end that could fit right into some divots in the device. Dr. Danan called it a screwer or something and Henrik was fascinated to see how it worked.

He was interrupted by his work by the sound of rustling nearby. He quickly abandoned his project and sat defensively on his pile, growling low in his throat. Then out popped two familiar faces from the kelp.

Schneep blinked in surprise, “Chase? Jamie? What are you doing here?”

“Henrik, thank god,” Chase breathed, “We need your help. It’s Jackie-”

Henrik made a loud scoff, looking annoyed. “I do not want to hear about Jackie. Ve had an argument zhe other day and I’m still very cross at him! Whatever it is tell him he can figure it out himself!” Chase and Jamie exchanged worried looks before Chase emerged from the kelp completely holding the panting Jackie.

Schneep immediately sprang up and swam to look at Jackie, eye wide. “Mein god… what happened?”

“We don’t know…” Chase said, “A Reaper brought him to us like this. He’s really hot Henrik.”

While waving an arm, Henrik approached the scrap pile, urging them after him. “Come come, set ‘im down here!”

“Uh, don’t you think the sand would be more comfortable for him Schneep?” Chase asked, eyeing the sharp-looking mound skeptically. Henrik looked embarrassed for a second before muttering, “yes yes, of course, just hurry!”

The boys settled Jackie down in the sand and moved back so Schneep could look. Henrik studied Jackie closely, feeling his forehead and checking his heartbeat. He bit his lip in concern before he noticed the bandages. His eyebrows raised.

“These are still here?” He whispered before he went to grab a wicked looking piece of metal, that looked like some kind of white suit tool. He carefully moved down to slice through the bandages, which were sticking tightly to his skin and scales.

The stalker merman gasped slightly as he saw the state of Jackie’s wound. It was puffy and red, bursting around the strings the white suits had put inside. There was yellow goo spreading from the cracks and it still looked like it was bleeding ever so slightly. He gently reached down to ghost his fingers over the wound and flinched back. The wound was even hotter than the rest of Jackie’s skin. Jackie whimpered slightly in his sleep, face scrunched in pain.

“What... what is this?” Henrik whispered as he eyed the wound. The other boys gathered around and gasped too.

“What happened to him?” Chase exclaimed. “Why is the cut kinda green?!” Jamie gulped slightly, feeling sympathy pain for his brother. He touched his side as if he was hurting too.

“Zhe wound is making him sick…” Schneep breathed, “But this… this doesn’t look like zhe khaara? But.. it could be…”

“I mean he’s hot, and I was hot when I had the kharaa right?” Chase questioned. “And there’s like green things on him and they look.., different, but that could be the khaara too!”

Schneep nodded looking at the wound in deep thought, “Yes… it seems like it has to be that. What else could it be?”

Jamie quickly swam in front of the boys and pantomimed a creature that swam with multiple tentacles. Chase nodded.

“We better get him to the sea emperor. They’ll know what to do.”

The boys swam as fast as they could towards the last place Chase and Jamie saw the sea emperor, hoping to find them there. It had been so long since the boys had ventured down there, and Henrik looked wary to be in this new place. Jackie was curled up safely in Chase’s arms, breathing heavily and feeling hotter by the second.

Jamie waved his hands wildly and swam fast ahead of the boys, pointing eagerly ahead. In the murky water, the boys could see a swirly black creature ahead. The boys all sped after Jamie towards the shape.

Sure enough, it was the sea emperor, who turned to regard the boys as soon as they approached. Schneep shuddered as he heard the smooth voice in his head.

Ah, Jamie and Chase. So good to see you again. And you brought more of your brothers I see.

**She approached closer and tilted her head down at Schneep.**

**Hello Henrik. It is a pleasure to meet you.**

Henrik’s mouth gaped open slightly, and he curtly nodded. She then moved her head to sniff down at Jackie.

**And this is Jackie, yes? Why does he sleep?**

“He’s sick… we think it has to be the kharaa again. Can you help us cure him?” Chase pleaded, showing the flushed and panting Jackie. The sea emperor swam closer and regarded Jackie slowly before he swam backward.

**Child.. This is not kharaa. In fact, it is a sickness I have not encountered before… I do not believe I have what is necessary to fix him.**

“What?” Schneep exclaimed, “If it isn’t zhe kharaa what could it be?!” The sea emperor seemed to shake its head.

**I’m afraid I do not have the answer. But I believe you might have a solution, Henrik. Perhaps a new friend?**

Jamie and Chase turned and blinked at Henrik curiously and Henrik felt himself blush slightly.

“Well…” He started, “I do have one other place we can go… but you’re not gonna like it…”

\-----  
“The white suits?!” Chase shouted, as soon as they sped away with Henrik explaining his idea. Schneep winced slightly, remembering Jackie’s anger.

“Just shush for a second, vill you?” Henrik snapped. “Yes, the white suits. They’re zhe ones who fixed Jackie in zhe first place.”

“You mean they’re the ones who put these weird strings in his tail? They’re probably the reason he got sick then!”

“No!” Schneep exclaimed, “Danan wouldn’t… I mean they didn’t want to hurt ‘im. These white suits… they’re not like zhe ones who took Jack.”

Jamie cocked his head to the side while Chase’s expression hardened, holding Jackie closer. “What do you mean they’re not the ones who took jack?”

“I mean these white suits... They split from the others before we escaped. They call themselves the Ocean’s Arms. They want to help the planet not destroy it and torture creatures like the other white suits do.”

Chase shook his head, jaw set, “You seem awfully quick to trust them, Henrik…”

Schneep growled and sped in front of Chase, halting him in place. “He vas dying Chase! His wound was too big for me to handle alone! So I did what I had to, and she saved him! They've proved themselves to me… a white suit would have let Jackie die.” He stared at Chase with steely eyes. Chase sighed and nodded.

“Alright, bro. I trust you. So if you trust them… we have no other options.” He knocked shoulders slightly when he passed by Henrik, still looking stiff and unsure. Schneep bit his lip and continued to lead them to the base.

Soon they approached the darkened base of Dr. Danan and her team. Schneep leads them around the back and towards the top before he knocked a short quick pattern on the window.

Chase and Jamie could see a faint blue glow through the darkened window and once Schneep finished his knocking, the light shifted and moved towards them. The blue glow illuminated the face of a dark-skinned woman, who smiled warmly when she saw Schneep. But soon her smile faded when she saw the two new boys and Jackie being held in Chase’s arms. She met Henrik’s eyes and pointed downwards and Schneep nodded. Then she disappeared into the dark. Henrik motioned for them to follow him as sped towards the bottom of the base.

“You two seem awfully chummy…” Chase spat slightly, glaring at Henrik. Henrik looked away and gritted his teeth, not wanting to start an argument.

“Not now, Chase,” He snapped, “Let’s just focus on fixing Jackie, alright?” Chase huffed slightly in anger and Jamie looked at his brothers in worry. The boys made their way towards the laboratory entrance, with a new pane of glass installed since the last incident with Jackie.

The door beeped before opening, and Henrik motioned them inside. Red lights blinked in their faces as tubes shot out of the wall and shot liquid at them. Chase and Jamie coughed at the substance, not liking how it felt on their gills. Henrik didn’t seem bothered by it though as soon as the light turned green he gently pushed the door open to lead them into the working space.

Dr. Danan was there to meet them and she quickly swam over, now dawned in her complete diving outfit to try to pick up Jackie. But Chase swam back, holding his brother protectively in his arms. Dr. Danan coughed slightly and giggled nervously.

“Ah yes… I suppose I should have introduced myself. I am Dr. Danan of the Ocean’s Arms. I assume Henrik told you about us?”

“Yes,” Chase said curtly, holding Jackie tighter.

“Ah well… it’s nice to meet you both in person, Chase, Jamie.” The two boys blinked their eyes in surprise at her knowing their names and Dr. Danan gave Henrik a look, “Well I guess your brother didn’t tell you everything. Come set Jackie down here, I’ll see what I can do.” She swam and motioned for the boys to lay Jackie on the table.

Chase swam past Schneep and whispered harshly, “What else have you been keeping from us?” Henrik growled back, “Nothing I wasn’t going to tell you eventually. Now is not the time!” Chase growled back slightly but said nothing more and as he gingerly laid down Jackie on the table.

Danan motioned for Jamie and Chase to take a step back, but Chase glared at her and stayed put. Dr. Danan smiled nervously before moving to the other side of the table. Jamie curiously swam to look over her shoulder.

“Ah, Henrik? Would you mind getting the light?” She asked as she reached for her tools. Schneep nodded and swam to set up the lights. Soon the lab was filled with a soft artificial yellow glow so Danan could see.

There were a few tense minutes as Danan studied the wound.

“We, uh… thought it might have been the kharaa…” Henrik tried to explain. Danan hid a slight giggle behind her hand.

Chase bristled with anger, “Do you think my brother being sick like this is funny?!”

The doctor stared at him with wide eyes and quickly shook her hands, “No, no! I just… you boys are awfully quick at determining the worst.” She motioned the boys over and pointed to certain parts of Jackie’s wound, “The wound is just infected. See here? It’s swollen and the yellow stuff, that’s pus. It’s warm to the touch too and with his fever, I know for certain it’s just that. He must not have changed his bandages since the injury.” She bitterly laughed, “Not that I got a chance to give him tips to keep the wound clean after last time.”

Chase studied the wound before looking up at her, “Is he gonna be okay?”

Danan smiled softly, “He’ll be just fine Chase. I’m quite used to dealing with these kinds of injuries.” She swam away to grab her supplies and bandages before quickly getting to work on cleaning the infection. Jamie and Schneep watched her in awe as she worked. Chase crossed his arms and watched from a distance.

It took a little while for Danan to remove the dead skin and stitches and to clean the wound and rewrap it. She sighed and set her tools down when she was done and smiled at the boys.

“Well, that should do it. His wound should be better within the next couple of days. But I’d recommend keeping an eye on him so we can make sure the bandages are changed every day and that the infection doesn’t get worse.”

Schneep looks wary and carefully approached Danan, “Couldn’t… shouldn’t he stay here?’ Danan patted Henrik on the shoulder, “I don’t think that’d quite a good idea… after last time. It took us a while to find the glass we needed to fix that window….” Henrik bit his lip and nodded.

“I think it would be best you all watched over him if you could for the next couple of days. So he’ll wake up feeling safe.”

Chase thought for a moment before mumbling, “We can take him back to the cave…” Jamie seemed to grin big and almost jump around at the thought. Schneep opened his mouth to protest but Danan quickly intercepted with a smile, “That sounds like the perfect idea.”

After getting more bandages and supplies from Dr. Danan the boys all gathered round to leave. Jamie had hiked Jackie on his back as the reaper merman slept soundly, his face no longer a grimace of pain. Chase pulled Dr. Danan to the side before they left, keeping his voice low.

“My brother… my brother wants to trust you. But I’m still skeptical. But… I should thank you for helping my brothers.”

“Well you’re quite welcome Chase it’s my job after all-”

Chase quickly cut her off with a small snarl, “But if you ever put my brothers in danger. I won’t hesitate to act, got it?” Dr. Danan quickly nodded before whispering, “I want to do everything I can to protect your brothers Chase. We care for all of you very much here... I do hope you’ll trust us someday..”

Chase gave her a withering look of anger, but his face softened slightly. “We’ll see..” He muttered before moving to push his brothers out the door. Jamie gave a small wave to Dr. Danan and she waved back with a smile.

The boys made their way back towards their nest. Henrik was looking wary and fidgety, not liking being so far away from his pile. But, his brothers needed him. But his instincts were screaming at him that this was a bad idea.

Chase and Jamie looked quite happy about the situation of being back together in the cave. Jamie was doing twirls and loops as they swam, a big smile on his face. Henrik bit the inside of his cheek. Jamie did an excited gesture as he saw their cove and he quickly dove inside, Chase followed after him with a smile. Henrik hesitated and stayed slightly out from the mouth of the cove.

“Schneep… what’s wrong?” Chase asked, letting himself fall behind Jamie with Jackie in his arms. Schneep looked away slightly, mumbling, “you two seem awfully happy about us coming back here…”

“Well, I mean the situation isn’t the best. But… didn’t you miss this?”

“Of course I did… but… we just have to wary… it’s dangerous to be together for too long.”

Chase turned so he was facing him, “Yeah but… maybe that’s changed! We’ve all grown up some, maybe we can-”

“No!” Schneep growled, and Chase moved back with a pained look in his eyes. Schneep looked away guilty, “Me and Jackie… and even Marvin… we are too dangerous to around you and Jamie…. I just want you to be safe… even if we have to stay away…”

Chase’s face softens and he reached over to fluff Henrik’s hair, “Let’s take it one day at a time, little bro… I have faith you and Jackie can survive a few days with us.” Henrik still looked wary but he nodded and the two headed inside.

Chase gently laid Jackie down where some small nests of seaweed had been made. Jamie yawned and looked to see the water dimming through the crack above. He smiled and swam so he could place his back against Jackie’s and closed his eyes looking relaxed. Chase smiled and swam over, lightly resting his chest on top of Jamie’s who let out a tiny giggle. Chase reached down to touch Jackie’s hand and the reaper smiled slightly in his sleep, seeming to roll over slightly.

Henrik swallowed and snuck to the back of the cave, where some of his old pieces of junk were scattered. He scooped up what he could and made a small pile and settled himself onto it, trying to move past the pit in his stomach.

“Henrik….” A small voice called out and Henrik looked to see the small disappointed face of Jamie. The cuddlefish reached out to him slightly and Henrik felt himself shrink slightly.

“Ah… sorry Jamie... I… I feel more comfortable here…” Jamie looked sad but he nodded and rested his head to close his eyes. Chase was close to falling asleep himself. Henrik sighed and shifted so he could look at the ceiling. He was feeling too many emotions now to sleep.

After what felt like hours, Schneep couldn’t take it anymore. He got up and swam over as quietly as he could to his sleeping brothers. He braced himself then moved so he could put his back to Jackie’s other side. His body seemed to relax on his own as soon as he settled and Henrik felt a warmth in his heart that he hadn’t felt in a while. He felt a small tap on his shoulder and turned to see a sleepy Chase smile at him. The older brother poked him and gave him a teasing smirk before he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. Henrik gave a small huff of a laugh as he moved back into place. He fell asleep quickly, wondering and wishing he could be like this with his brothers again.

\-----  
Jackie was awoken to the warm feeling of sunlight on his tail. He mumbled in his sleep, a slight smile on his face. He hadn’t felt this good in forever…. Why was he feeling so good?

He pushed past the heavy feeling of sleep with slight panic in his chest. Something wasn’t right. Where was he?

“Ma… Mama… Grim…?” He managed to mumble as he forced his eyes open. He blinked and adjusted to the light and saw a familiar sight. The cave ceiling. Then he felt something move beside him and he realized he was trapped between bodies. His mind was swirling and he didn’t know what to make of it so with a quick gasp he scrambled out of the tangle and backed against the cave wall. His vision was swimming.

Chase was shocked awake by his pillow slipping out from under him. He blinked and shook the sand out of his mouth and stared out at Jackie. “Jackie! You’re awake!”

The other boys woke up quickly and sat up to see the commotion. Jamie rubbed the sleep out of his eyes then grinned big at Jackie. Henrik didn’t like the wide-eyed look in Jackie’s eyes.

“Jackie?”

“H-how did I get here?” Jackie spat, chest heaving. The entire cave was tilting and he felt like he was gonna fall over, “Where’s Mama Grim?”

“Mama Grim?” Chase asked.

“Jackie, please… Just try to breathe! You’re still recovering,” Schneep warned. Jackie tried to take deep breaths. He wheezed and slowly sank to the cave floor. Jamie quickly spurred over and wrapped him in his arms, making sure he didn’t face plant into the sand. Jackie kept blinking the spots out of his eyes.

“What.. what happened?” Jackie finally asked, swallowing the dizziness he was feeling.

“You were sick,” Chase explained calmly, “Your tail healed wrong and got um… “ Chase looked to Henrik, “What was the word?”

“Infected,” Schneep said, adjusting his goggles. “Ve had to take you back to zhe… um…” Henrik coughed, not wanting to provide the answer and upset Jackie further. But Jackie got it. He was too tired to argue right now.

“Right…” He breathed, “Okay, then how did you all find me? I… I don’t remember much from the last couple of days… but I know I couldn’t move for a while.”

Jamie made the motion of something swimming then the motion of something dropping. Chase explained, “A reaper brought you into the shallows. It was carrying you in its mouth and it sounded scared.”

“Mama Grim,” Jackie mumbled and the others all looked at him, “What?”

“Is Mama Grim the reaper?” Chase said with a slight smile. Jackie felt his face turn red as he stammered, “Uh, yeah… she uh… she found me after all this and uh..helped me.” Jackie messed with his hair self-consciously as the others exchanged slightly sly grins.

Jamie tapped Jackie’s shoulder and made a motion like he was rocking a baby before poking him in his chest, “Baby!” He whispered with a grin. Jackie’s face turned redder and he growled slightly, “What?!”

Chase laughed, “Jamie said that Mama Grim considers you her baby.”

“How did he figure that out?!”

Excitedly, Jamie demonstrated how he could hear Mama Grim, by putting his hand on Jackie’s forehead then making a wiggly motion with his hand before pointing to his head. Jackie blinked, confused.

“Apparently little JJ can hear and talk to others when he touches them,” Chase said with a laugh, “Who knew right?” Jackie laughed slightly before staring at Jamie semi in awe. “That’s amazing, J…” Jamie beamed.

“So…” Jackie stared, “You guys had to… take me back to the white suits?”

Henrik immediately sat up, “Jackie please before you get upset, just understand-!”

Jackie held up his hand to stop Schneep, “It’s okay Schneep… I…” He coughed and looked away, mumbling quietly, “I… I shouldn’t have gotten so mad at you… s-sorry… I know you were just trying to help…”

Schneep stared in shock. He honestly expected Jackie to explode.

“So… you’re not mad?” Henrik asked hesitantly. Jackie sighed, “I… wouldn’t say that. I still don't trust anyone who wears those white suits…but…”

“They saved you twice now,” Chase offered softly. Jackie nodded and rubbed his tail, “yeah… if they wanted to kill us, they could have. But they didn’t. They saved me….”

Now it was Chase’s turn to sigh, “I still don’t know if we can trust those white suits completely…: Henrik moved to protest but Chase cut him off, “But, they may be just what we need to find Jack…”

There was a tense silence as the boys all comprehend what that meant. Jackie eventually popped up, “So, where’s Mama Grim? You said she brought me here?”

Chase and Jamie stared at each other wide-eyed. “Oh… oh no…” Chase whispered with slight fear in his eyes.

“What?” Jackie cried, his voice rising an octave, “where is she-?!”

Suddenly a roar sounded from outside and shook the cave. The light from the skylight above the boys was blotted out by the body of a gigantic creature.

“Ah… I think we found her…” Chase muttered nervously. Another roar greeted him as the Reaper turned and tried to stick her head down the tiny skylight, screaming and sniffing around for the reaper merman.

The cave started to shake a little and bits of rocks started to fall from the ceiling. Jamie quickly scrambled behind Jackie so he wouldn’t get hit.

“Uh, Jackie! T-try to calm her down so she doesn’t destroy the cave!” Schneep whimpered, hiding slightly behind Chase. Jackie swam up as best he could and gently put a hand on Mama Grim’s face.

“Shhhh,” He comforted, “It’s okay. I’m here! See I'm okay!” Jackie flicked his tail upward in the reaper’s face. Mama Grim gently nudged it as best she could to check before she roared happily and snorted hot air in Jackie’s face. He laughed and patted her head. Then the reaper surged forward, trying to squeeze herself in. The cave screamed in protest as more rocks fell to the sand.

“Jackie!” Chase warned. Jackie pushed back at her face, trying to get her away, “No girl! You can’t fit in here!” Mama Grim whined slightly and blinked at Jackie with somewhat sad eyes.

Jackie felt a pit in his stomach but he pushed past to smile at her, “It’ll be okay. I… I gotta stay with my brothers for a bit okay? But I’ll be back soon, promise.” Mama Grim roared quietly as if she understood. Jackie smiled sadly and swam upwards to give her a big hug, resting his face on her forehead. He patted her head as he got back and Mama Grim backed away. She pushed hot air at him again before she swam upwards and away. Jackie waved slightly before he swam back down and plopped into the sand, exhausted from swimming upright for so long.

Chase patted his shoulder and gave him a gentle smile, “I guess… I guess you also found a good home outside of us, huh?” He gave a slight eye to Schneep and he shifted uncomfortably, hating how well Chase could read him. Jackie stared at his lap, messing with his fingers.

“Well… at least she doesn’t get hurt when I get all rage-y,” Jackie says with a shaky bitter laugh. The others swallow, the air tense. No one likes to speak about the events that led to them splitting up.

Chase eventually speaks up, bringing Jackie closer to him in a half hug and placing a hand on top of Henrik’s. “I just… I’m so proud of you guys,” He says, to the other’s confusion. “I know this has been hard for all of us… But you all… You’re all growing so strong and taking care of yourselves and… “ He feels tears spring up in his eyes slightly as those dark voices whisper slightly in his ears.

“Hey,” Jackie says sternly, punching his in the arm, “You better not be thinking what i think you’re thinking.” Chase rubbed his arm and blinked at Jackie.

“Even if we’re doing alright on our own… we still need you too, Chase,” Henrik says gently, finally squeezing his hand back.

Jamie swims behind him and wraps his arms around his neck, whispering happily, “Big Brother!” Chase laughs and lets some tears fall. “I miss you all so much… but I'm so glad this spilt has helped you all…”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” Jackie says, leaning back and staring at his brothers.

“Where’s Marvin?”


	15. Capture

Marvin woke up in another place he didn’t recognize, his head pounding. His entire body felt like it weighed a thousand tons. When he tried to shift over, his stomach turned and he resisted the urge to vomit. He looked at his hands to see them covered in thick yellow blood. Again.

The warper mermen lowered his head back to the ground with a soft whimper. He was so sick of this. So sick of losing himself like this. But whenever he tried to find his brothers or head somewhere for help, something would go off and he’d be lost again.

When he dared to raise his head again he gasped back in shock at the dead creature next to him. It was huge, bigger than anything Marvin had been near before. An ampeel maybe? A river prowler? Marvin couldn’t really tell, his vision was fading in and out. And the face of the creature was butchered beyond recognition.

Marvin whined again, panic gripping his heart. He couldn’t remember anything about getting here. About attacking anything. It was actually surprising he was remembering anything lately. He was losing so much.

His ears started to ring and he felt his stomach drop. Why? Why again? Why now? He just woke up!

But the ringing was different somehow. Marvin tried to lift himself up by his heavy and sore arms to look through the green mist surrounding him. In the distance, he saw two pinpricks of yellow light. Then the lights break through the mist and blind Marvin for an instant. Marvin then recognizes the noise.

A seamoth.

His heart starts pounding into overdrive and fear grips his whole body. His body twitches and Marvin’s hearing is overrun by ringing.

“Shit shit shit shit shit!” Marvin curses, trying to push past his quickly dimming brain so he could run. He needed to get out of here, now! But with a painful twist of his stomach and a loud cry of pain, Marvin’s second pair of eyes appear and the panic in his head quiets.

Warper Marvin stares down the foreign seamoth with terrifying glowing pink eyes. He opens his hand to create a warp gate but all of sudden there’s a burst of blue and the feeling of every nerve of Marvin’s body on fire. Then silence and blackness.

\----

“It’s fascinating isn’t it?” A male voice echoed through the comm on his dive suit, swimming around his prize. A sleeping Marvin held up in glowing green wires above the floor. The warper merman kept twitching, his eyes opening slightly and glowing pink before he would slowly drift back off.

“Fascinating isn’t quite the word I’m looking for,” said a bored voice from behind. Another white suit was sitting (or at least trying to sit) on an abandoned chair in the completely submerged lab.

The male white suit turned on the other, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “How can you not be interested in this, Zara?!” He exclaimed, pointing to Marvin. “Not only do we get to see the marvel of Altera in these hybrids up close, but…!” He swam around and pointed to the slowly opening second pair of eyes on Marvin’s head. “We also get to see how the joining of mechanical bioengineering exists inside a human body!… well mostly… How is that not the most interesting thing in the world?”

“Cuz some of us aren’t complete nerds,” The white suit named Zara countered, scrolling through her PDA absentmindedly. “I didn’t even want to come down here but, you know Dad…”

The other white suit rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, “We’ve been given a great opportunity to learn here! And you’re wasting it.”

“I didn’t ask to be born on this planet into this research, Zeke….” Zara sighed, giving him a withering glare. Zeke huffed and rolled his eyes again.

“Well, whatever. I’m gonna see what we can learn about this guy,” He said peering into Marvin’s second pair of eyes. Suddenly, all four of his eyes opened up and Marvin jolted, growling dangerously and yanking against his restraints. He grew his blue claws and nipped at Zeke, who swam back wide-eyed.

“Mm, sounds like he doesn’t like you,” Zara teased over the top of her PDA. Zeke growled and eyed Marvin, puffing out his chest to appear tougher.

“You don’t scare me, WH-005!”

As if in response, Marvin’s eyes dimmed and flickered out like a broken lightbulb and his eyes returned back to their normal blue.

“W-what…?” He whispered, staring terrified at Zeke, who looked back at him equally surprised.

“How did you do that?” Zeke wondered, staring at Marvin’s eyes in fascination. Marvin tried scooting back but he couldn’t move his head. His heart started going a million miles an hour and he couldn’t breathe.

His ears started ringing.

“I-idon’t know-w-w” He choked, starting to wheeze. “I-i- w-where am i? W-whatsgoingon-n-n?!” His voice started to skip like a broken machine, going in and out of sounding robotic and natural. His eyes flickered between pink and blue at a rapid pace and his head started to jerk back and forth.

Zeke swam back away in fear as Marvin continued to spaz and wheeze. Eventually, his head snapped to the right before his head fell forward, completely passed out again.

The lab was silent for a couple of tense minutes before Zara piped up, “I… I think he’s broken.”

Zeke swallowed and put on a determined face, “We’ll have to fix that then…”  
\-------  
When Marvin next woke up he was alone, but still in that awful dark place, surrounded by green mist and the tangles of his wire prison. He struggled weakly against his bonds, but his body was so tired. He wasn’t even sure when the last time he got proper sleep was.

The warper merman breathed deeply, trying to calm his already quickening heartbeat. Panicking wasn’t going to get him out of here. But he knew something that would. He quickly scanned his surrounding, hoping and praying this dump still had a- yes! A radio, sitting on one of the abandoned desks a few feet away from Marvin. Thinking back to his brothers, he knew they still kept a radio in the back of the cave in case they were ever separated. It had been such a long time but the number for their station was permanently burned into Marvin’s brain.

Concentrating as hard as he could, Marvin imagined a warp gate just in the reach of his fingers through the wires. As the warp gate swirled into existence, Marvin pulled the tiny gate towards him, so his hand could slip through. Once inside, Marvin then turned to the radio and imagined the exit gate right where the dial would be. Marvin panted, feeling the gates shake and rattle slightly as he formed them. He wasn’t usually so careful with his gates and he could feel his already low energy sapping. He had to hurry. He quickly turned the dial to the frequency he needed then slammed the talk button, building up his voice to shout across the room.

“H-hello? Chase? Anyone?!”

Back in the cave, the boys were all semi-piled into a proper guppy pile, catching up and relaying what they had been up to. And trying to figure out if anyone had seen Marvin. But, no one had.

Suddenly, the radio in the back sparked with loud static before a voice broke through.

The boys all perked up and exchanged looks before they all came rushing towards the radio in a flurry of tails and colors. Chase managed to grab the device first, clumsily slamming the talk button.

“Marvin? Jesus, where have you been man? Where are you?”

Everyone’s hearts were slamming in their chests. Marvin sounded so weak and scared.

“I-i… There’s no time for that. I- The white suits g-got me,” Marvin sucked in a shaky breath, feeling his vision dimming from the panic, and he struggled to get more words out.

“What?!” Jackie roared, nearly knocking Chase away from the radio, but the older brother elbowed him back to keep the radio in between everyone.

“Explain please Marvin!” Schneep whimpered, “Where have they taken you?”

“T-the abandoned lab in the lost river…. The creepy one we’ve always avoided,” Marvin sobbed slightly, “T-they’re gonna e-e-experiment on m-me..! Please guys please i-i don’t know how long i have-!” Marvin’s panic made the warp gates rattle and shake and Marvin pulled back his hand quickly before the gates tried to chop his hand off. The gates shut quickly and Marvin heard the rush of all his brothers clambering for the radio to get more information. But, Marvin could barely catch a word, the noise all swirled together in his head and turned to static. He could feel the tug of his warper side in his temple and he whimpered, hot tears dissolving into the cold water. He hoped his brothers would hurry.

Chase and Jackie took turns screaming at the radio to get Marvin to respond, but all that came back was silence. After a few more minutes of begging and waiting, suddenly the radio bursts with loud static again and a voice that sounded much like Marvin’s but too robotic and stoic broke through.

“H-H-HE-E-L-P-p-p—”

Then just as suddenly as it came the voice collapsed back into the static before the line went dead.  
\-----

“His behavior is very strange…” Zeke mused as he watched Marvin twitch and flicker between pink and blue eyes. Zara winced slightly behind her PDA as she heard the merman whimper in pain but she tried not to show it.

“Maybe it’s cuz he’s in pain Zeke,” She commented, trying to keep her voice nonchalant.

Zeke rolled his eyes, “It’s not just that. He’s acting like he’s… broken. Like something’s wrong with his programming. I just wish i had the plans for him…. What Father and the others used to make him. Maybe then I could understand what’s wrong.”

Zara waited for a beat before sighing and dropping her PDA, “Is that supposed to be a hint?” Zeke looked over and gave his sister his best puppy eyes, which his breathing mask kinda ruined. Zara scrunched her face, “You need to work on subtlety, dear brother,” She got up and swam over to her brother, “Give me like 20 minutes and get you those schematics.” Zeke grinned “Thank you!! Best sister ever~!”

“Yeah yeah,” Zara said as she headed back to their ship, not far from the lab, rolling her eyes.

Zeke smiled then turned back towards Marvin, who was panting and wincing, his eyes normal for a second. He glared up at Zeke as he struggled to catch his breath, “W…what are you gonna do… with me…?”

Zeke chuckled a little bit, “You’re broken WH-005, we want to fix you.”

“Bullshit,” Marvin hissed, “You don’t want to help me, you want to use me. You white suits can’t think about anyone but yourself!”

Zeke tutted and lightly patted Marvin on the cheek. The merman sneered and pulled his head back as far he could, baring his slight fangs at the white suit. Zeke chuckled again as he pulled back, “C’mon you are too quick to judge us. We want to make sure you’re useful! Otherwise… who’s to stay we’ll allow you hybrids to roam around on our planet much longer.” Marvin face dropped at the threat before a truly furious expression took its place.

“This isn’t your planet asshat! This planet belongs to the creatures who live in it!”

“And where does that leave you?” Zeke countered, “You are half-human. Half us. You may think you’re different from us but you’re not. Not really. And sooner or later, we’ll find some use for you and the other hybrids. Or… we’ll eliminate you. So, you just need to trust us, so we can use you for the greater good, WH-005.”

“My name is Marvin!” The merman yelled, staring down at Zeke in pure hatred, “And we will never trust you! You stole Jack away… you brainwashed and tortured Anti! All because, why? They had some use to you? We don’t belong to you! And I will never, ever help you, no matter how ‘useful’ you find me!” Marvin breathed heavily after his rant, his vision fading to pink and ears ringing. Zeke merely laughed in response.

“Who said we would get your help willingly?” he said with a sinister smile. Marvin’s heart dropped with dread and Anti flashed into his head. He began to panic. No no no! They could turn him into a white suit puppet just like his brother! And then he’ll be trapped, just like them, far away from his brothers forever.

“N-no…!” Marvin choked quietly, trying to open his mouth to fire off at Zeke again. But his throat closed up as his vision was completely taken over by pink and his ears burst from the ringing. Zeke smirked as he saw Marvin’s warper mode overtake him.

“Huh, that’s a good way to shut you up huh?” He mused, swimming around to observe his changes. He studied the way Marvin’s eyes glowed, how his second pair of eyes blinked and appeared, how he seemed to not need to breathe while in this mode. He was stiff, as if ready for a trigger or a command. He could be very useful indeed…

Zara swam back not long after, holding out the PDA to her brother, and swiped through the schematics to show him what she found. “So here’s his stuff. He’s mostly biological with very little tech involved. Except for this,” she said before pinching her fingers on the image to zoom in on a figure of Marvin’s head. There a small computer chip, about the size of a fist, pressed up against his brain. Zeke quickly took the PDA from Zara’s hand, who softly exclaimed, but Zeke hardly gave her a thought as he swam around reading.

“Fascinating…” He whispered, pure joy on his face. He looked up back at Marvin, who twitched slightly in his stoic state. “So something must have affected the chip… perhaps an injury….” He swam around to observe the part of Marvin’s head where the chip would be. He brushed a hand against the side of his face and flicked his ear. “Perhaps an ear injury? RL-006 is a Reaper… his roar could definitely cause that kind of damage.” He flicked the image off the PDA and quickly started typing some notes, while Zara frowned and crossed her arms.

“Can I get my PDA back now?” She called but Zeke shushed her quickly, focused on his notes. Zara gave an exaggerated groan.

Suddenly, as Zeke moved around, trying to take more notes on Marvin’s Warper Mode, Marvin’s head snapped forward, eyes blue and clear. He blinked at Zeke who furrowed his brow then growled slightly. Marvin gulped.

“Why did you do that?” Zeke snapped, quickly grabbing Marvin’s jaw and twisting slightly. Marvin gasped and squeaked in pain. “Go back! I wasn’t done observing you!”

“i-I… I- can’t control when I d-do that…” Marvin whimpered, “It just… happens.”

Zeke blinked before quickly bending over to type away, “Hm… interesting.” Marvin gulped as he saw Zeke pause in his writing and smile. The white suit quickly looked up and smirked at Marvin.

“You know… you’re only really useful to us as a warper... A true warper. This,” He gestured to Marvin, “You’re useless like this. I think we gotta find a way to keep you... A little more stable.”

Marvin swallowed and tried to back away, even though he was still chained in this weird warper containment. “Y-you wouldn’t! Please… i-i’m not myself when I’m like that!”

Zeke chuckled darkly before smiling at Marvin again, “That’s exactly what I want.” Zeke sped away, quickly typing away and Marvin dropped his head in defeat, tears leaking from his eyes. Zara watched him, with a sad look in her eyes. But she looked away.

Marvin drifts in and out of sleep after that, time moving way too slowly. His heart never really calms down, nor does the pit in his stomach. He’s just biding time till whatever the white suits have planned for him is finished. He’s never felt so trapped and scared in his life. He hopes and prays his brothers will find him soon. But something dark in the back of the head whispers that they won’t. That it’s too late.

Hours later, Zeke comes swimming in, carrying something white and strange in his hands. He nearly bumps into Zara in excitement. The older sister rolls her eyes and pushes his shoulders, “Calm down Zeke before you give us both concussions.”

“I got it!” He breathed, holding his creation tight in his hand, “This… this will trigger the chip in his head so his warper instincts are permanently switched on. And I also added the brainwash capability of SD-004’s disks so he should be open to commands, not just permanently hunting for the Kharaa unless it’s spread.”

Zara gave a wary sideways glance to Marvin, who was just now waking up again before flashing a wavering smile at her brother. “Wow, you sure do work fast…”

Zeke laughed and flashed his project in her face, a white mask that could easily fit over Marvin’s face, “You know me. Once I have an idea, it’s hard for me to stop!” He quickly swam way heading towards Marvin, “Now… to see it works!”

Marvin woke up quickly as he saw Zeke approach, mask turned and ready to slap onto Marvin’s face. Marvin yelled and tried to move away but soon Zeke was on him, pressing the mask on. Marvin tried to scream but the mask had a mouthpiece built-in that Zeke roughly shoved in Marvin’s mouth. Marvin cried, tears leaking down his face as the painful piece of metal and plastic was pressed into his skin. The sides snapped into the side of his face, breaking through the skin and latching on tightly. Something then sparked from the sides and Marvin’s eyes widened, eyes sparking. Zeke backed away as the mask’s signal took hold. Marvin jerked and twitched, fighting against the mask and his bonds, trying to do anything to stop this. But soon, he stilled, eyes gazing over and glowing pink, staring ahead at nothing. A blank slate, ready to be used.

Zara held her hand over her mouth and looked away, feeling sick to her stomach. Zeke grinned and clapped his hands together.

“Excellent!” He cried, quickly swimming around Marvin to check his vitals. Marvin hardly twitched. Once satisfied, Zeke swam over and unlatched Marvin from his bonds. Marvin stayed in one place, not even moving as he was set free. Zeke grinned.

“What a good little puppet you’re being WH-005!” He sang, looking over Marvin once more. “Now… let’s see what you can do. You could be an excellent source of fast travel, couldn’t you?

So… WH-005, open a warp gate to the kelp forest, won’t you?”

There was a beat of silence as Zeke waited. But Marvin didn’t move, didn’t blink. Zeke coughed, “WH-5. Open a warp gate to the kelp forest.” He repeated. Still, no response. Zeke grew furious and brought a hand down against Marvin’s face, yelling, “WH! WARP GATE NOW!” A little blood dripped from Marvin’s nose, but still, no response.

Zeke raised his hand for another blow but Zara quickly swam over and caught it. “Zeke calm down! There might be something wrong with the command chip!” Zeke breathed through clenched teeth but brought his hand down and jerked it out of his sister’s grip.

“Possibly… I was only working through theories… The actual logarithm must be harder to replicate than I thought…”

“You… You’ll get it,” Zara quietly encouraged, “You might not just have the right tools? This place is kinda a dump... And our ship wasn’t too well equipped to experiment.”

Zeke hummed in agreement as he thinks. “Yes.. you’re right…We should bring him back to headquarters. I’m sure Father and the other Alterens will be quite intrigued to see another hybrid brought back home.”

\----

“Stupid Zeke..” Zara mumbled as she grabbed her sea glider and headed out of the wreck. Zeke was preparing the warper for the trip back to headquarters but her little rat of a brother still wanted to butter up Father to his plan. So he sent her to collect the stuff they actually came down here for. She sighed and pursed her lips. She hated fetch quests, but he was the “smart” one so this usually fell on her anyway.

Zara doesn’t make it far through the expanse of the lost river before her sea glide alerts her of hostiles nearby. She quickly whips around only to be met by the sight of bright red mandibles. The mandibles expand and slam her against the cavern wall, pinning her in place. She opens her eyes and gapes at the sight of the other hybrids glowering down at her, with RL-006 growling dangerously in her face.

“White suit!” He barked, drawing in closer. Zara moved her face away, shaking with fear. “Where. Is. our. Brother?!”

“Y-you mean…M-Marvin..?” She asks timidly. The boys all blink at her in surprise. I guess they’re not used to her kind calling them by their chosen names. Slowly, CH-007 swims up and nods, pointing to his heart. Zara swallows.

“You know where he is?” RR-001 asks. Zara hesitantly nods. Suddenly she’s being jolted back again by RL-006 grabbing her shirt and roaring in her face, “Well then! Spit it out!”

“I-if you guys try to take him now,” She starts, trying to find her courage, “It won’t be good… for any of you.”

There’s silence as tension settles in the air. Finally, SH-003 pipes up, “What do you mean?”

Zara gulps, “My brother… he has Marvin. But he wants to use him… like SD-004, like Anti? Right? He wants to turn him into a weapon for Altera.” The boys all react in fear in shock but Zara continues, “If my brother sees you… He’ll stop at nothing to get you too. Plus, HQ already knows we’re bringing WH- Marvin back... If you take him... You’ll all be hunted down and captured.”

More silence fills the cavern as RL-006 slowly lets Zara go. He backs up, eye wide with fear. “Is… is Marvin already gone?”

“If by gone you mean a puppet for our organization then no. Not completely.” Zara rubs his neck through her suit, making sure her breathing tank didn’t get disconnected, “There’s a problem with his command chip. That’s why my brother wants to take him home.”

“…Vhy are you telling us all this?” SH-003 questions with skeptic eyes. Zara sighs and looks away, “T-This.. This is the sickest thing i’ve ever been forced to see. I never liked working on creatures like this… but when our team split i.. I couldn’t leave with the others because of our father… and now... Zeke… “ She presses her eyes closed and takes a shuddering breath, “He’s become obsessed with experimenting and impressing my father but… he’s all I have on this stupid planet.” Zara blinks weak angry tears out of her eyes.

“But no more. That.. that monster is not my brother anymore…So, i want to help… help you guys,” She looks up at them and offers them a sad smile.

The boys all exchange wary looks but they turn back to her. SH-003 gives her a gentle smile, “We know the ocean’s arms. If you help us… we can help you get to them. Then you can start doing good, ja?”

“Well, that’s debatable..” RL-006 mumbles by RR-001 nudges him in the side. Zara can't help but let a small laugh out.

CH-007 swims up and gently pokes her arm. She blinks at him and he opens his mouth and softly whispers, “HQ… is where Jack is?” Zara nods.

“Wait wait wait, they’re taking Marvin to where Jack is?!” RL-006 exclaims. The boys all crowd around her, hope sparkling in their eyes.

“Can you get us to him? To Jack?” RR-001 asks. Zara takes a second to think, trying to figure something out.

“They have him in the main tank… Marvin might be put there initially… If i act fast…” She mumbles as she thinks out loud. She pops her head up and gives the boys a mischievous smile.

“I have the perfect plan to get you to him. You guys can handle it from there right?”

RL-006 scoffs and gives her a toothy grin, ‘Please? Destroying white suit property is our specialty. You get us there and we’ll raise hell.” Zara grins.

“Though one thing still concerns me..” SH-003 mumbles, “The white suits will know it was us... If we manage to escape… how will we be able to keep them away?”

Zara smirks somewhat sinisterly, “When I’m done with the place, they will have nothing left to use.” Zara swallowed as the boys grinned and laughed, seeming excited. What she had planned… it was gonna hurt a lot of people. But she needed to stop them.

\----  
I’m not sure I like this plan…” RR-001 mumbled as Zara took out her knife and started stabbing it into the hull of the ship. The boys started at the huge mammoth of a ship with eyes as big as saucers. They probably have never seen a functioning one, since the researchers tended to keep these things away from the surface.

Zara drove the knife once more through the hull as was rewarded with a burst of air that started to suck water through the hole and into the ship. She then took out her habitat builder and switched it on to create a hatch for the boys to enter. She opens the door as soon as it’s finished forming then motions the boys to go through but they stare at her in astonishment.

SH-003 finally pipes up, “H-how did you do that?!” His eyes are alight with curiosity. Zara stares down at the device in her hand and blinks. She was so used to this technology it never occurred to her that the boys might not have had access to it. How did they survive?

“Oh uh, this creates things,” She explains simply. Sh-003 comes forward and tries to look at it closer. “How?” He asks. Zara shrugs, “I… I don’t know. We’ve had these for like hundreds of years now…” She shakes her head and stuffs the habitat builder away. “We’re wasting time! All of you need to get in here now!” She rushes them all in through the hatch and follows after them.

The room Zara managed to flood looked like a spare storage room, sparsely filled with a few tools and scrap metal. Hopefully, Zeke wouldn’t pay much attention to the fact that it was underwater.

“You guys should be safe in here till we get to HQ,” Zara explains, “I’ll make sure to keep Zeke away….”

RR-001 nervously fiddles with his hands, “Are.. are you sure this is going to work?”

Zara sighs and scratches her helmet, “No, not really. But we gotta try right?” She gives them an encouraging smile and a few return it. She then claps her hands. “Okay, so I gotta get the supplies my brother sent me to fetch and keep him away from here. So you all stay quiet okay?”

Zara turns to leave but is halted for a second by a rough grip on her arm. She turns to see RL-006 has stopped her. He slowly lets go then clears his throat, “Since we’re going to be working together… It’d be nice to know your name.”

Zara blinks then smacks her head with a laugh, “Oh! Right!” She smiles big, “I’m Zara!” She looks back at all of them before sheepishly admitting, “I… I only know you by your codenames… what do you all call yourselves?”

CH-007 quickly swims up and wiggles his mustache as he points to himself. “Jamie,” He whispers softly.

RL-006 crosses his arms but gives her a small smile, “I’m Jackie.”

SH-003 timidly adjusts his goggles as he mutters, “Call me Henrik.”

“But we just call him Schneep!” Jackie intercepts and Henrik pouts and punches his arm. Jackie just laughs.

RR-001 finally approaches with a smile, “And I’m Chase. It’s nice to meet you, Zara.” Zara smiles and offers her hand for him to shake.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” She grins. Chase stares down at her open hand in confusion and Zara takes a second to realize.

“Oh uh sorry, we uh we handshake when we meet someone,” She laughs. She gently grabs his hand and gives it a firm shake. “I guess it’s just a weird thing we humans do.”

Chase chuckles, “Well you learn something new every day.” He nods towards the hatch door, “You should get going, we’ll be okay here for now.”

Zara nods and waves to everyone. “I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She blinks when she sees Jackie and Jamie vigorously giving each other handshakes that shake their whole body while Henrik watches warily. Then Jackie turns to him and shakes him up and down by the hand. Zara can hardly contain her giggles as she heads out of the hatch.

After deconstructing the hatch, Zara quickly heads out to gather the supplies. Luckily for her, they’re all easy to find and by the time she’s back, she can see Zeke getting ready to board the ship.

“Ah, there you are!” He shouts, looking slightly peeved, “You sure took your sweet time…”

Zara shrugs and tosses him the supplies, “You know me.” She droned, looking bored. That always set Zeke off, but god did it feel good. He glowers slightly before he tosses it back.

“Take care of this, I saw our ship sprung a leak and I need to fix it before we leave,” He says as he goes swimming past her. She quickly swims around him and shoves the stuff back.

“No no brother, you’re the better driver, let me handle the leak.” She suggested, batting her eyelashes. Zeke pauses then snickered, “You? Since when were you one to ever fix the ship?”

“Well, I know how important this little experiment is to you,” Zara said as she held one of his hands. Doing so made her feel sick to her stomach but she held it down, “And I want to make sure we get to HQ as fast as possible... Before Father loses interest in this.”

Zeke seems to pale at this and soon he’s nodding. “Yeah.. yeah you’re right! Let’s get going, I’m sure you can take care of that leak on the way.” Zara opens her mouth to comment but Zeke is already heading through the hatch. Zara’s stomach turns and slowly follows after him.

When she’s back on the ship and shaking off the water, she heads over to the ship’s sensors. She finds the one indicating the leak in the storage room and takes out a small PDA looking device that she quickly plugs into the monitor. The screen flashes with letters and numbers that flow in seemingly random patterns. Zara studies the screen and waits for a few before she looks up to the red flashing sensor. Suddenly, the red dies out and is replaced with the blank sensor, no longer sensing the anomaly. Zara smiles and quickly unplugs the device and pockets it, before heading down to the chamber where she left the boys.

She makes another hatch and quietly slips through, helmet and diving gear hurriedly put back on. She finds the boys huddled close together, even laying slightly on top of one another. But the chamber is silent and filled with dread. Zara swallows but pushes through towards them with a smile.

“How are you all holding up?”

Various shrugs answer in response and the boys start to roll apart, stretching out.

“We felt the ship move and got kinda nervous,” Jackie mumbled.

“It is very weird to feel us moving through the water without swimming,” Henrik chuckles.

“Huh, guess I never realized that,” Zara mumbles. It was so fascinating to learn about these guys this way. Actually talking to them, like they were people. Not just science experiments.

She couldn't understand how Zeke didn't see them the same way.

Zara swiftly lifts her arm and types into the screen on his sleeve and soon a 3d map of the nearby terrain appears. The boys all gather around it in wonder while Zara points to the dots around.

“That dot is us. And that dot,” She points to a huge blinking red one not too far off, “That’s headquarters. We should be there within like 30 minutes.”

Jackie swallows and looks nervous, “That’s the lava zone… right?” Zara slowly nods, “Yeah headquarters harvests the energy from the lava to fuel their equipment.”

“Anti’s there,” Jamie whispers. The other boys all tense and stare at the red dot.

“I wouldn’t worry guys. We’re in an Altera ship. He won’t attack us,” Zara encourages but Chase shakes his head.

“We… we won’t be able to save him too this time… will we?”

Zara’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t even thought about a way to get Anti out of there too. She grits her teeth and curses before she lifts her head up, “I… I don't have a way now. But when we’re done here, we can regroup and come in guns a blazing to save him. I promise.”

The boys all nod solemnly, but Zara can tell that’s not the answer they wanted to hear. But they could only take on one problem at a time.

And to be honest, Zara wasn’t even sure if this was even gonna succeed. But damn, she was going to try.

“Okay, guys…” She gathered the boys around, “Let’s go over the plan.”


	16. Reunited

Jack was staring up at the ceiling of his cage for what felt like the millionth time. He was unbelievably tired. He felt like any second he could drift away, but he forced himself to stay awake. He wanted as much time as possible between now and his next white suit session.

Anyone who knew Jack could see he wasn’t well. His skin was milky white, almost unnatural looking. And that just made his multiple of bruises even more noticeable. Too many needle injections, too many incisions, too many shock sensors. Jack was losing track of how long he’d been here, but to be honest he wasn’t sure how much longer he was gonna last. Either the white suits were gonna get what they want from him then kill him, or he would fade first.

Jack sighed and gripped his hair. Sam the peeper carefully swam over before they gently rubbed their peak against his chin. Jack gave them a weak smile and lightly brushed a finger against their scales.

“Thanks, buddy,” he whispered as he gripped the little peeper into his arms for a hug. He closed his eyes and suddenly his vision burst with pink light. And he saw a brief flash of bright green hair and the sight of a terrible looking mask.

Jack sprang open his eyes, breathing heavily. Sam was squirming in his too-tight grasp and Jack takes a second before he lets them go. Jack’s heart is going a million miles an hour. He could feel it.

Marvin was here. Here in the base.

Jack had to act fast. If Marvin was here, they would start experiments on him right away. He had to get him in here somehow. Jack’s brain scrambled for any idea. What would get the white suits' attention? Jack’s eyes fell on the shape of a shell half-buried in the sand. He picked it up and gulped as an idea formed. He swam up and quickly smashed the shell against one of the huge rock forms around. It took a couple of swings but soon he managed to get a jagged sharp piece.

He swallowed staring down at the piece. He was gonna pay for this later. But if it meant he got to see his brother, even for a second, it was worth it.

Jack spurred upwards where he knew a camera was in his cell. He tapped a finger on the camera before he leaned in and glared at the camera.

“Hey, you. Yeah, you watching the camera feed. I know he’s here.” He swallowed a bubble of anger in his throat, “I know you have my brother! And here’s the deal. You’re gonna drop him here in the main tank… or-” Jack lifted the shell with the sharp jagged side pressing against his neck.

“If you don’t bring him here i-i’ll do it. I know you need me alive. So my brother better be in this tank in 10 minutes or you lose EVERYTHING!” Jack yelled his eyes flashing cyan as his anger rumbled throughout the tank. Jack could hear other creatures underneath him start to growl at each other and some signs of fights beginning. Jack gave a bitter laugh and stared at the camera with bright glowing eyes.

“Oh and look at that, more danger.” He pressed the shell even closer to his neck, even letting it nick him slightly as he drew closer to the camera again, “Clock’s ticking.”

Jack then spurs away, holding the shell close as he drove straight through the hordes of quickly angering fish. He knew they wouldn’t hurt him, but the white suits didn’t. He got as close to as many brawls as he could, almost letting himself be bitten or slashed at. He kept glancing at the top of the tank. Waiting for the drop.

After what felt like it might have been 10 minutes later, Jack takes a shaky breath. They were really gonna make him do it huh? He lifted the shell, point prepared to go straight through his neck.

“Okay!” He screamed throughout the tank, “Time’s fucking up!” He brought the shell back, bracing himself for the strike. As he shut his eyes and started the movement towards his neck he heard a splash above him from something entering the water.

Eyes popping open, Jack springs up. The figure falling through the water, Jack would recognize it anywhere. Jack swims faster than he has in months, using all his strength to reach it...

His heart almost stops as he scoops up his baby brother in his arms. He’s real, he’s real, he’s here. Jack’s eyes are welling up with tears just holding him. Then he sees the mask, how it clawed its way into his brother’s skin. How Marvin’s eyes glowed with strange magenta light, foreign and alien and cold. Staring at nothing. Holding no recognition. 

Jack is brushing his hand through Marvin’s hair and touching his face as he holds him, “No no Marvin, no!” He’s sobbing, he can’t control his emotions, he’s feeling too much. “What did they do to you?!”

They hit the bottom and Jack hardly notices as he holds onto Marvin, breathing heavily and wet from his tears. He holds Marvin like he’s made of glass, fingers lightly brushing everywhere he can. He can’t process what they did to him. He’s never seen Marvin this way.

Jack chokes on a sob as he hugs Marvin to his chest. He buries his face in the younger brother’s shoulder, shaking like a leaf.

“Marvin,” He whispers, over and over, voice breaking, “Oh, Marvin... Marvin…!”

The sand whips around as if caught up in a powerful current as Jack’s emotions go haywire. He can’t stop, he can’t breathe.

Then suddenly, the whole tank goes dark.

The sandstorm dies down as Jack lifts his head in confusion. The tank… it never goes dark.

“What… what the hell?” He whispers.

Then there’s the sound of creaking metal behind him and he barely has time to react before he’s tackled to the ground by a flurry of tails and colors.

Jack opens his eyes and nearly has a heart attack. Chase, Henrik, Jamie, and Jackie all stare down at him like they too can’t believe they’re here. Then, Jack is suffocated by a giant, warm tangled-tail hug.

“Jack! It’s jack!” Jackie is crying, nearly crushing Jack’s ribs. Schneep is hovering over his neck as he grips onto his arm, looking worried and happy all at the same time. Jamie is clinging to Jack’s tail like he’s afraid he’ll dissolve into foam at any moment. Chase is on top of everyone and he leans down and holds Jack’s face in his hands, his face covered in tears. He pushes back Jack’s hair and laughs through the tears.

“Jack…! You’re here… we finally got to you!”

Jack’s eyes hurt from how much he’s crying. He laughs wetly and gives Chase a big grin.

“W-what took you all so long?”

\------

Zara’s fingers flew across screens and keyboards, working furiously to keep the power down. She brought up file after file, erasing everything she could to keep the whole base distracted and frantic.

**_Deleting SD-004 control blueprints…_ **

**_Deleting SE-002 experiment databank…_ **

**_Deleting Hybrid Information Data…._ **

Zara smiled to herself as she worked, focusing on destroying the files related to the boys. These evil bitches were gonna lose everything.

Jack stared up at his brothers as he tried to form words, “H-how… how did… how are you here? T-the white suits, the lava! A-Anti?!” His mind was reeling but his questions were halted by Jamie leaning over and putting a finger to his lip with a shaky smile.

“Deep breaths, Jack,” Schneep encouraged.

“A white suit helped us,” Chase explained. Jack’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“A- what? A white suit?!”

Jackie pushed closer to Jack his eyes alight with excitement, “Yeah! She’s really cool actually! She had like this machine that can make things out of nothing! She stored us on her ship and then made a way for us to get to you!”

Jack’s eyes narrowed slightly as he processed this, “Why… why would she do this?”

Chase leaned over and held the still unresponsive Marvin in his arms, “She didn’t want what happened to Marvin to happen to anyone else…” He said quietly, eyes sad.

Jack bit his lip, still skeptical. But, he had something more pressing to deal with.

“Do you know what happened to him?” Jack asked, taking Marvin’s hand and squeezing. Marvin didn’t even blink as the others shake their heads.

“He.. he contacted us through a radio to tell us he got captured. When we got to where they had him, we heard he was… that he was on his way to here. That’s when the white suit decided to help us,” Chase explained as he brushed back Marvin’s hair.

“The mask…” Henrik said as he drew in closer, “It's supposed to have a command chip or something in it. Like what they did to Anti. It must be keeping Marvin in this ‘Warper mode’….”

“Is that why his eyes are pink?” Jack blinked as the others nodded.

“This isn’t the first time he’s been all glowy, pink and scary,” Jackie muttered, fiddling with the end of his hood, “But when he gets like this…he gets like violent and starts warping everywhere! He’s… he’s never been so still like this…”

Jack stayed quiet for a second before he grabbed Marvin and brought him closer to him. “I’m gonna try something…” He muttered as he drew Marvin’s face closer to his, making their foreheads touch, “Be prepared to catch us if we fall okay?” He doesn’t give his brothers any time to respond before he shuts his eyes and wills himself and Marvin asleep. Slowly, Marvin’s eyes slip shut as Jack feels himself pulled into dark blackness.

When Jack next opens his eyes, he knows he’s in his dreams, the same place he’s met Anti. But, this time it’s Marvin in front of him, floating almost lifelessly with the same pink glowing eyes. Jack gulps as he blinks next to Marvin in a flash of cyan light. He slowly brings up his hand and touches Marvin’s face, “Hey, Marv. Wake up!”

Marvin shakes his head as his eyes fade back to their original blue. He blinks rapidly before he rights himself and stares at Jack, mouth agape.

“J-Jack?!” He whispers breathlessly, yet his voice still echoes throughout the blackness, “What the hell?” He brings up his hands and touches Jack’s face as he blinks back tears, “Are you here? Like… really here?”

Jack gives him a wavering smile, “Yeah buddy, it’s me… What do you remember?”

Marvin looks confused for a second as he tries to think. Then his muscles tense up as his expression changes to fear.

“I-i… I remember panicking.. And hurting and being tired all the t-time. I-i was losing myself. Then.. w-white suits!” Marvin’s breathing begins to pick up as his eyes grew wider, “They found me... They wanted me to stay a w-warper. To not be me! They they they…” Marvin grips his hands to his chest as he heaves, unable to breathe.

Jack shushes Marvin and cradles him in a hug, “Take a deep breath, Marv. It’s gonna be okay… I’m gonna free you.”

The warper merman takes a shaky breath and whispers over Jack’s shoulder, “H-how?”

Jack smiles as he holds Marvin out, holding his shoulders, “I managed to learn a few tricks here.” His face falls to a serious expression as he studies his face. After a few seconds, Jack takes his hands and places them on Marvin’s face. One hand on his temple, where his warper chip is, the other on the side of his face where the mask is currently embedded in his skin. Marvin’s breath hitches as he feels sparks of pain from the points.

Jack takes a shuddering breath, “Marvin..before I do this. I need you to promise me something.” Marvin cocks his head slightly, “Um okay, what is it?”

“When you wake up. The second you see any opening that leads outside, I need you to grab the others and warp out as soon as you get outside this tank,” Jack breathes, looking exhausted yet determined.

Marvin looks confused, “What.. what do you mean? I don’t..”

“You’ll understand in a second. Just trust me okay?”

Marvin slowly nods, “Okay Jack, I promise.”

Jack smiles warmly at Marvin, “Thank you... Now.” His face falls and he bites his lip, “This… this is gonna hurt…”

Before Marvin has a chance to ask, Jack’s eyes turn cyan and start glowing. Suddenly, Marvin feels a strange pull where Jack has his hands before he feels white-hot sparking pain. Marvin feels himself screaming as the entire space turns white.

There’s the sound of loud cracking as Marvin and Jack spring away from each other back in reality. Jack falls backward, his eyes fading from cyan to normal as they roll up in the back of his head. Jamie manages to catch his head before he hits the ground.

Marvin flies backward, into the arms of Jackie and Chase. His mask has a long deep crack down the center now and slowly Marvin blinks away the pink light from his eyes. He gazes out at everybody, but it doesn’t look like he’s really seeing anything. It takes a few more seconds for him to come to his senses and he blinks rapidly, eyes darting around to catch sight of his brother’s faces.

Jackie laughs and leans down to hug Marvin in a big tight bear hug, “You’re back!!”

The celebrating is cut short for a second as they all hear Jamie whimper as loud as he can, “Jack…!”

Chase helps lead Marvin over as the others crowd around Jack as he lays in Jamie’s lap. His skin is even paler than before, the dark purple bags under his eyes more pronounced. His breathing is labored and strained, his face twisted in pain. Jamie lightly pats Jack’s face, trying to wake up.

There’s a couple of minutes of tense silence as the boys feel their hearts in their throats, watching Jack as he struggles to breathe. But finally, Jack’s eyes flutter open and he takes a second to focus before he breathes, “Did.. did it work?”

The boys all give shaky and nervous laughs. Jackie bites, “Don’t scare us like that man!”

Marvin pushes himself forward and stares at Jack like he’s a ghost. Slowly, he reaches out and touches Jack and bites back a sob as he realizes he’s actually there. Jack smiles weakly as he shakily takes Marvin’s hand, “H-hey Marv…”

Marvin’s eyes fill with tears and he whimpers around the mouthpiece in his mask. Marvin looks like he’s ready to crush jack in a hug, but Jackie stops him.

“Wait, let’s get this fucking thing off you!” He grabs both sides of the mask and tries to pull and Marvin’s eyes shut in pain and he whines through the mask. Schneep panics and pulls Jackie’s hands away, “stop Jackie! I don't think you can just pull it out!”

Marvin holds the sides of his face, feeling around the mask, chest starting to heave. Chase swims over and wraps his arms around his shoulders, trying to calm him down.

“Don’t worry Marv. I’m sure you guys will find a way to remove it outside of here,” Jack pipes up as he pulls himself into a sitting position. The boys all stare at him.

“You.. you make it sound like you’re not coming with us,” Jackie says softly, something akin to mounting horror spreading across his face. Jack hangs his head.

“I… I can’t,” He nearly whispers.

Jackie is suddenly yelling, “What do you mean you can’t?! Don’t you want out of here? Don’t you want to be with us?!”

“Of course I do!” Jack snaps back, then deflates, “But you guys don’t understand… The white suits… they won’t-”

“Fuck the white suits!” Jackie screams, “We’re taking you home!”

“Just shut up for a second!”Jack yells back, and Jackie gapes slightly as he drops down. Jack takes a shaky breath, “You guys have to leave without me. It’s the only way you’ll be safe…If I get out of here, the white suits… they’ll never stop hunting me down…. They’ll… they need me.”

Jackie is bristling with anger, “Did those fucking bastards brainwash you too?!” Chase gasps and hits him in the arm, “Jackie what the hell?”

Jack glares at Jackie, “You’re not hearing me, Jackie! You guys are more important to me than anything! But the only way they’ll leave you alone is if I’m here! Or do you want to be killed?! Do you want to have a mask strapped to your face and lose yourself like Marvin almost did?! Do you want to become like Anti?!” Jack’s eyes flash cyan and the water around him stirs angrily as his voice rises. The boys all unconsciously scoot back, eyes wide. Jack’s stance deflates again as his head falls.

“Please…” His voice breaks, “Please just get out of here-”

Suddenly, the lights in the tank wink back to life and cast everything in an eerie green glow. The boys all stare at each other in horror.

“Z-Zara!” Jamie whispers.

Jack is floating upwards, “Okay no more fucking around, you guys need to leave now! Get Marvin out of here and get him help!”

“We’re not leaving without you!” Jackie cries. Chase tugs on his hood as if he’s ready to tear them back towards the hatch Zara made for them but he freezes when he looks to the wall to see it had vanished.

“Oh fuck-”

A strange sound fills the area as hatch after hatch appears in the upper levels of the tank. White suits carrying stasis guns and blasters filter in and start heading straight for the boys.

“SCATTER!!” Chase screams and the boys all scramble in different directions. Everyone except for Jackie though. He hunches back his shoulders and roars as loud as possible, sending a blast that sends a couple of white suits swirling backward. Chase looks back to see Jackie about to dive after one in blind rage but he doesn’t seem to notice as another trains a blaster on him.

Chase screams and rushes to push Jackie out of the way. And he manages to, but not without getting hit himself. The blaster takes a chunk out of Chase’s shoulder and he yells in pain. Jackie cries out and hurries to grab Chase in his arms. Jackie starts to hyperventilate seeing Chase’s blood seep into the water. His eyes start to go black. Schneep tries to scamper over to try to calm Jackie down but he’s quickly grabbed by a white suit and yanked backward.

Marvin is opening up his hands, trying everything he can to open a warp gate. But nothing works, the water doesn’t even swirl. Jamie stays with him and tries to silently encourage him and warily watches above as the white suits close in.

Jack sees Chase get blasted and his body immediately fills with white-hot rage. He feels that weird tug in his gut he knows is tied to his powers. He doesn’t fight it and lets the tug pull him under, rage fueling every inch of his body with renewed vigor. His eyes burn cyan and the water twists and turns in crazy currents, sending white suits and merboys alike spiraling. All the other creatures in the tank respond to the call as their eyes turn cyan too. The aggressive ones growl and start to attack the white suits, chomping, and smashing anyone in their way. Smaller fish huddle into big groups and dive-bomb and try to trap or blind the white suits.

A fellow stalker smashes into the white suits holding Schneep and he scrambles away and makes his way to Chase and Jackie. Chase is trying to hold on, gripping Jackie’s shoulders like it's his only lifeline as he tries to whimper for Jackie to calm down. Jackie is trying to buck him off as he roars, eyes locked on white suits that try to draw near.

Bonesharks and Stalkers gather into a huge group, starting to smash against the walls where it feels the hottest. They bang and bash all their weight against the wall, not caring if they injure themselves in the process. After barely even a minute, they manage to burst their way through, sending boiling hot water into the tank.

As soon as the way is open, Marvin’s head snaps up. He doesn’t know why but he has a voice screaming at him to grab everyone and run. Everyone but Jack. His eyes become rimmed with cyan light. He tries to argue with his head that no, he can’t leave Jack but his body is moving already, grabbing Jamie in his arms and surging forward to grab the others. Marvin can hardly think as the voice in his head screams for them to escape. He grabs Schneep in his other arm and grabs Chase and Jackie in his tails, not caring at Jackie clawing and screeching. Marvin immediately veers towards the hole as he hears the sounds of blasters and stasis rifles fire towards them. Hoards of fish move in the way of the blasts that look like they will hit the boys.

Marvin pushes through the hole and into the boiling water and as soon as he touches it he feels the spark of his warp powers return. He concentrates and a shaky unstable warp gate starts to open, way too slow. Marvin hears the sounds of angry roars in the distance and he sees a familiar figure barreling towards them, readying a fireball. Anti! Marvin panics and wills the warp gate to open faster. As soon as he’s sure they can all fit, he surges through, barely dodging a fireball as it explodes where they just were.

The boys are all sent straight into the ground with a loud crash. Marvin shakily sits up and looks back through the gate as it starts to waver and dim.

He sees Jack turn back towards them through the puncture in the base as his eyes dim. He smiles sadly in their direction before he’s overrun and grabbed by white suits. They plunge a needle into his neck and Jack’s eyes roll back and he falls as the warp gate dissolves into foam.


	17. Fixing What's Broken

The second the warp gate closes all hell breaks loose. Marvin feels close to fainting as he kneels in the sand and starts shaking. Chase is trying not to cry as his shoulder burns and leaks from the blaster’s blast. Jamie is trying to gather him up in a hug or trying to do something but he’s shaking like a leaf from everything. Jackie is still trying to reel in his anger and he’s roaring out at nothing, pupils expanding like he might go into his nightmare mode at any moment. Schneep hurries and takes Jackie’s hood from him and swims over to press it against Chase’s wound to stop the bleeding and gently pushes Jamie away.

“WE WERE SO CLOSE!” Jackie is screaming, clawing at his hair, “WE WERE SO FUCKING CLOSE!!” Hot tears run down his face and Jamie sniffs too feeling the pit in his stomach get worse.

“J-Jackie…” Chase tries to croak, voice breaking from either sadness or the pain. Jackie doesn’t seem to hear him as he grips his shoulders and drives his claws in.

“Jack…!” Jackie is sobbing now, sinking into the sand in defeat. Jamie spurs over and tries to wrap his brother in a hug but Jackie pushes him away.

Marvin groans and tries to sit up, everything is spinning and he can’t concentrate. He blinks, the world is nothing but blurs and swirls of color.

Jackie catches the sight of Marvin and bunches up his muscles in newfound anger. “You!” He’s shouting, looking ready to pounce the unfocused Marvin into the ground, “why the hell did you do that Marvin? We could have saved him! He was right there!! YOU SHOULD HAVE GRABBED HIM TOO!!”

Marvin stares wide-eyed at the blob that’s Jackie and shudders as his eyes flicker pink, but he can’t answer back because of the mask so all he can do is cry. Jackie roars at his lack of response and tries to tackle him but Jamie comes over and pulls him backward, holding onto the reaper with all his strength. “Jackie!” He quietly warns, trying to grip him in his tails.

Schneep finally looks up from helping Chase as he wraps the red cloth around the wound. “Jackie enough! Yelling at Marvin isn’t going to fix anything! What's done is done!”

Jackie snarls as tears fall down his face, trying to shove himself out of Jamie’s grip. The young cuddlefish reaches up and smooths down Jackie’s hair, trying to comfort him. Jackie shudders and bites back a heartbroken sob.

Chase struggles to sit up as he hears a quiet thump behind him.

“M-Marvin!” He breathes, panicked. The other boys all turn to look back to see what’s wrong.

Marvin is convulsing on the ground, gripping his head as horrid blue claws start to grow from his fingers. His eyes are flickering and he jerks and twists his head at almost unnatural angles. He gives a strangled whimper from his mouthpiece as he shuts his eyes. He lifts up his claws and starts to dig in where the mask is attached to his skin, trying to rip it out.

“No Marvin!” Henrik cries, rushing forward and grabbing Marvin’s hands to keep away from his face. Marvin winces and sobs, trying to pull his hands back as his eyes glow pinker. The ringing in his ears is deafening and he can’t focus as his despair threatens to pull him under. He can hear someone shouting at him but he can’t understand what they’re saying. He chokes as he feels like he can’t breathe, his vision is dimming.

“Marvin! Marvin! Stay with us, please!” Schneep pleads, as he notices Marvin’s eyes glazing over. There was too much shit going on for Marvin to lose control now. Jamie comes over too and tries to slap Marvin awake by tapping on his cheek. Marvin winces as he feels the mask bite more into his skin but his eyes seem to clear some.

“Just stay with us Marv, w-we're gonna get you ‘help okay?” Henrik quietly encourages. Jamie meets Henrik’s eyes and quietly whispers, “Danan?” Schneep nods, “We need to get care for Chase too, his wound is too deep.” Jamie nods and helps gather up Chase and Henrik helps the smaller brother carry the quickly fading rabbit ray merman.

“Jackie please help carry Marvin, ve need to hurry,” He urges as he shifts to hold Chase better. Jackie takes a shuddering breath and nods, pulling Marvin’s arm over his shoulder. Marvin’s head lulls to the side but he grips onto Jackie’s arm to try to keep himself grounded.

The five of them swim as fast as they can to the Ocean’s Arms base, with Marvin and Chase fading faster than anyone would have liked. Chase is close to passing out and is becoming dead weight in the hands of Schneep and Jamie. And Marvin’s head keeps twitching and spazzing, setting Jackie even more on edge.

They start to see the quickly approaching base ahead and Jamie and Schneep seem to sag slightly in relief.

But then Marvin’s whole body goes rigid and he’s digging his claws deeply into Jackie’s shoulder, the pain so intense Jackie’s eyes immediately turn black as he roars in pain. Marvin tears his claws through Jackie’s shoulder to get away and the reaper roars and tackles Marvin to the ground.

“No!” Schneep is yelling, unsure how to stop them, “Guys snap out of it! We don’t have time for this!!” But the boys can’t hear him as they struggle and fight in the sand, Jackie trying to spear Marvin with his mandibles and Marvin trying to tear Jackie to shreds. Schneep pushes Chase into Jamie’s arms, “Quick Jamie get Chase to the base. I’ll try to stop them!” Jamie nods, sagging against Chase’s weight but he rockets away as fast as he can.

Jackie gets the upper hand on Marvin as Schneep rapidly swims over. He tries to grab Jackie’s arm to pull him away but Jackie’s too strong.

“Jackie! Jackie, please snap out of it!” He pleads but is shoved away as Jackie tenses up and builds up a powerful roar straight into Marvin’s face.

Schneep screams as Marvin twists and spasms against the deafening sound. The warper’s eyes flicker like an old monitor as his head falls to the sand and blood starts to leak from his ears. Schneep growls and sending a swift and powerful tail hit to the side of Jackie’s face.

Jackie gasps as he comes back to himself and he holds his cheek in confusion. Then he sees he’s holding Marvin down and sees the blood and scrambles backward.

“Shit-! Shit shit shit!”

Schneep gathers Jackie up in his arms and pulls him upwards, “You can freak out in a second, Jackie but c’mon ve gotta get Marvin inside!” Jackie quickly nods and the two grab the unresponsive Marvin and drag him back to the base.

When the three of them finally get through the quarantine they find Danan hooking Chase up to an iv to start getting blood back into his system while she uses a scanner on his blast wound. Jamie rushes to his brothers, eyes wide with concern. Dr. Danan blinks up as she hears the boys come in and freaks out slightly.

“Oh my god?” She gasps as she swims over and gathers up the silent pink-eyed Marvin in her grasp, gently touching the blood leaking out of his ears. “What happened?”

Henrik shakes his head tiredly as he grabs bandages to help wrap up Jackie’s arms, “So much shit…”

\----

“Boys, I need you to trust me,” Dr. Danan addresses them seriously as she holds Marvin close to her chest, the merman’s head twitching ever so slightly. The boys all blink and stare at her.

“In order to figure out what’s wrong, I need to take Marvin out of the tank and put him inside a machine…. but I promise it will not harm him. It’s just gonna take some pictures,” Danan pauses then points upwards, “we managed to find enough glass to make some tunnels around here so you all can follow us…”

Schneep gives a wary look to Chase but blinks to see he has passed out on the table, but some machine is working on his wound. It seems to be repairing the wound with a strange blue light. He then glances to Jackie and the reaper sighs through gritted teeth before he mutters, “if this is the only way to fix Marvin then you can do whatever.”

Dr. Danan beams at Jackie, “Thank you for trusting me, Jackie.” The reaper blushes and looks away mumbling, “well I dunno about that just yet…”

Dr. Danan swims over to the door and punches in a code, waiting for the door to unlock. “If you boys want to follow just go straight through the tubes then turn left.” The door beeps and the doctor gathers Marvin and heads out through the door.

Henrik quickly swims up to follow but looks back at his brothers to see if it’s okay. Jamie gives him a weak smile and a thumbs up and Jackie waves his hand dismissively. Henrik smiles slightly back before heading through the tube to see the procedure.

About an hour passes when Henrik comes back through the tube. He finds Jackie and Jamie sleeping sounding in a small pile near Chase’s table. Chase is looking better, his arm where the blaster hit is a slight patchy red but it looks completely healed. Schneep comes over and stares at the wound in amazement. He pokes it gently and startled backward with a yelp as Chase jerks his arm away. Chase’s eyes spring open and he scurried into a sitting position, breathing fast and eyes unfocused for a second.

“H-Henrik?” He breathes, rubbing his head slightly. “Where are… where’s Jack?” He looks around to see where their other brother could be and Henrik’s face falls.

“Ah- Chase….” Henrik starts but Chase can read his face in an instant.

“Oh…” Is simply all he can say as he stares down at his lap, looking broken-hearted. Schneep swallows a sudden lump in his throat and feels his eyes tickle with unshed tears. Chase sighs and reaches up to scratch at his newly healed shoulder just as the door leading into the base beeps and swings open.

“Please don’t scratch at that Chase,” Dr. Danan gently scolds as she swims herself in, carrying Marvin in her arms. She sets him down on another table that shifts up from the ground when she pushes her foot on it. Marvin’s head softly lulls to the side as he’s laid down but he looks peacefully asleep now rather than on the verge of having another attack.

Jamie and Jackie swim over having been awoken by Danan’s arrival and Chase and Henrik follow close behind. They gather around to watch Marvin and all bite back the burning feeling of anger in their gut at seeing that terrible mask still on his face.

“Did you figure out what is wrong with him?” Schneep asks quietly, brushing back his younger brother’s hair. He looked so tired and pale.

Danan nods as she heads over to one of the weirder monitors on the wall and she quietly slips in a sheet before she flicks something and a light shines through. The picture is black and white, with a picture of a skull.

Danan studies the picture before she motions the boys over. She points to one part of the picture, where a dark object that’s mostly square in nature rests.

“This is Marvin’s chip that gives him access to his warper abilities. In it is a program designed to trigger a protective mode should the kharaa be detected.” She pauses before she points to a very obvious crack. “But it was damaged somehow and it’s causing Marvin to switch into that protective mode even when there are no threats.”

“So.. how do we fix it?” Chase asks timidly. Dr. Danan sighs, “I don’t know. The problem is I can't remove the chip without damaging Marvin’s brain. The chip was inserted when he was born, so his brain has grown around it so to speak.” She turns to glance at Marvin, “The Alterans made that mask with a certain frequency that would keep Marvin switched on in protective mode… so he could be a weapon for them.” Her shoulders seize up and she lets out an angry breath, “I understand the concept but… I don’t know how to make something that will do the opposite for him.”

“Well, what’ll happen if we just take off his mask?” Jackie pipes in. Dr. Danan shakes her head, “He’ll still be caught in that broken loop of going on and off. Switching between being himself and being in that predator mode. And he’ll be in pain….To be honest, I’m surprised he lasted so long with his chip malfunctioning like this. The stress it must have put on his psyche….”

“Vell what can ve do zhe-?” Henrik tries to ask but is cut off by a strange sound that has all heads turning towards the window. A smoking hulk of seamoth goes rushing past before it plunges into the seabed with a loud crash. The boys all power to the window to get a better look.

A girl struggles her way through the broken windshield and flops into the sand. She pushes herself up and looks towards the building.

“Zara!” Jamie exclaims quietly, a huge smile breaking out on his face. Zara seemed to notice them through the window and her face lights up. She waves out towards them before something behind her makes her turn around. A light on the seamoth is blinking rapidly for a second and Zara dives away before the vessel explodes into a million pieces.

The boys all spring away from the window in surprise at the blast. “Woahhhh!” Jackie grins, watching the wreckage float through the water.

Henrik and Jamie go over to the door and sped outside to find Zara, they bring her in safely though her dive suit looks worse for wear.

“Who is this?” Dr. Danan says after a few moments, giving the girl time to adjust. Zara blinks and swims over and straightens herself up to seem polite and official. She offers her hand to Dr. Danan hesitantly, “Um, I’m Zara. Formerly of the Altera Arms. I uh, I helped these guys with their rescue mission.” She jerks her head towards the boys and gives Danan a nervous smile. There are a few tense moments of silence before the doctor smiled kindly down at the girl and shakes her hand, “Well then it’s an honor to meet you, Zara.”

Zara beams, “The pleasure is all mine, Dr. Danan. I heard so much about you!”

Danan laughs, “But only bad things I assume?”

Zara snickers, “Well yeah, but that just made me like ya more!” Dr. Danan gives her a big grin. Jackie quickly swims up in her face, his own face alight with curiosity, “What made your ship blow up?!

Zara blinks then pushes him away slightly with a laugh, “Uh, just some complications man.”

Chase approaches next, but slowly. “Were you… did you get Jack out?”

Zara’s shoulders slump and she sighs, “No… there wasn’t any time.” Her stomach drops as she sees the faces of the other boys fall, “But! I did destroy a bunch of their research and left them a little surprised. Trust me when I say, that place will fall to ruins by the time we get another ship ready to save your brother.” She grins mischievously at them and the brothers give her weak yet hopeful smiles in return.

“You guys were able to get Marvin though, right?” Zara asks and Jamie nods before taking her hand and leading her over to where the warper lay sleeping. Her face scrunches up in anger as he brushes her hand over the mask, “That horrid thing is still on him…” She quickly reaches in the bag she has around her waist and pulls out her PDA where she pulls up Zeke’s notes.

“Hold on,” Dr. Danan calls as she swims over and lightly palms the back of Zara’s PDA. “Are these the blueprints for that mask?”

Zara nods, “Yeah, uh… My brother’s the one who made it.”

Danan gently takes the PDA from Zara’s grasp and scrolls through, quietly mumbling to herself. After a couple of minutes, she turns to Zara, “Do you know how this technology works?”

Zara nods, “Yeah it was what I and my brother specialized in.”

“Could you reverse the signal? So it would repress what the mask is doing now?”

Zara blinks then grins, “If I had the materials, it should only take a few hours.”

Danan grins back, “We haven’t had such a need for these kinds of materials in years, so they’re all yours.”

Henrik swims up to them looking hopeful, “Are you gonna be able to fix him?”

Zara smiles and wraps an arm around the startled merman’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Hen, I’ll have Marvin better than ever!”

\-----

Danan shows Zara to the lab where she can work before she comes back to the tank to start working on taking that mask off Marvin’s face. Henrik hovers around nervously, wanting to help but not knowing how.

Danan easily slices around the mask and gently removes it from Marvin’s skin with hardly a reaction thanks to the sedative she gave him. She then works fast to cover the tiny wounds and sets that machine she used on Chase to rebuild the skin and possible bones that may have gotten disturbed through the whole ordeal.

It does only take a couple of hours before Zara is done. She pops back into the room to find Dana resting in a chair, reading a PDA, and the boys lazily lying down in a pile near Marvin’s bed.

“Oh, guys~!” Zara sings as she enters the room, holding her new invention behind her back. The boys spring up and she laughs, “I think I have something you may like!”

She holds out the new mask she made. It’s much different than the other. This one is white and seems to have pointed ears and openings for Marvin’s eyes. A red symbol seems to glow in the center and a triangle like nose rests on the end. The boys all cock their heads in confusion as Dana stifles a laugh.

“Zara, really?”

Zara grins more, “What? If he has to wear it for a while, I thought it should look cute! I think it suits him.”

“But they don’t even know what a cat is!” Danan laughs.

Chase blinks, “What’s a cat?” Danan pushes over and scrolls through her PDA and shows the boys a picture of some four-legged creature covered in hair whose face looks the same as the mask.

“It’s a creature humans keep as pets,” Danan explains and Zara nods, “They’re really cute!” The boys all blink more. Zara chuckles and shrugs.

“Well Zeke’s design reminded me of a cat when you like squinted at it, so…” She swims over to Marvin’s side and motions everyone over, “You guys wanna see if it works?”

Everyone gathers around and Zara slowly moves to place the mask. But she’s stopped in her motion by Jackie catching her arm, glaring at her warily.

He glances at the mask, then to the slight marks still left on Marvin’s face, “It’s not going to… you know…?”

Zara smiles gently, “No Jackie, it has a band to wrap around his head. Like Henrik’s goggles. And he’ll be able to take it off whenever he wants.” Jackie relaxes at this and lets Zara go, giving her space to work. The girl leans down and gently moves the band over Marvin’s head and moves the mask in place.

There’s a long silence as they all stare at Marvin’s sleeping face, willing the mask to work. But eventually, Marvin’s eyes blearily open, revealing clear blue eyes. He takes a second to wake up but once he does, he stares out like it’s the first time he’s seeing clearly.

“G-guys?” He croaks as he blinks the sleep from his eyes then jolts up, gripping at his face with a panicked look. Zara tries to reach out to stop him but he stills and breathes as he touches near his mouth.

“I-i… I can talk…” He breathes, touching his lips in disbelief. He feels around his cheeks and winces at the cuts then he feels up towards the side of his head. “The ringing… I can’t hear the ringing anymore!” An unstable but relieved laugh bursts from his lips as he grips his hands to his chest. “It’s gone…” HIs laughs turn wet as tears fall down his cheeks. Finally, he turns and addresses his brothers, smiling widely through the tears, “H-hi guys!”

“Marvin!” Jackie screams in joy as he tackles his brother off the table. Danan shouts in warning but the boys all pile and hug onto Marvin as the warper cries and laughs. There’s not one dry eye among the merman as they hold onto each other and smother Marvin.

Marvin cries and mumbles under his breath as if trying to convince himself it’s true, “I’m here.. I’m here.. I’m here!”

Jamie hugs him around his neck and Chase brushes back his hair with a wet smile and wipes away some of his tears, “You’re here Marv…” He assures. Marvin hiccups and laughs as he returns Chase’s hug and grabs as many of the others as he can in his arms.

“I’m home….”


	18. Anti's No Good Very Bad Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written by JurassicRaptorcat on Tumblr

The blazing heat of the lava zone rolled over Anti as he descended from being topside to find food. Usually, he reveled in the heat but not now. Not when it felt so foreign. Anti was used to the cool waters of some distant memory -theshallowswhereheplayed- he couldn’t quite grasp.

The distant roar of the other Sea Dragon spurred Anti on to his area. He was still smarting from something the other had done or hadn’t done or replaced. It was something. Something he couldn’t remember.

Anti passed the skeleton of another Sea Dragon -nononono- and shivered. Something bad had happened here.

Back in Anti’s area he swiftly took care of the cameras the white suits had set up. Ever since the incident with the intruders they had been watching him. Anti hated it -theycouldtakehismindbuttheywon’ttakehisprivacy- almost as much as he hated them. Those intruders too.

They had messed everything up and now Anti was all messed up in the head. There were times he would have a flash in the corner of his eye like one of them was there and he would turn happily to call out to them with a name on the tip of his tongue -ChaseJackieMarvinJamieSchneepJack- only to be met with rivers of fire. Anti didn’t know those intruders but he did but he didn’t.

With a growl, Anti clutched his head and squeezed until his claws pricked his scalp. It didn’t help the barrage of want to be by those intruders sides.

Angrily Anti swam to his nest to sleep with the hope that the feeling would disappear when he awoke. His dreams weren’t much better. They were murky images filled with laughter and joy and Anti ached to be back in that time -sohappysohappyplease- but didn’t because they were just intruders, merely failed subjects he has to drive away.

When Anti wakes up he’s strapped to a table with white suits peering down at him. “He’s been acting more erratic since the subjects breached here. Boss wants us to reset him just in case,” The one comments to the other more tired-looking white suit.

“Don’t we have more important things to be doing? The whole facility is a mess since the incident,” The tired one replies.

They don’t try and speak again as Anti lunges against his restraints with a roar. He knows this place, he hates this place. This room, this table, these people, everything. He hates it all. This is where they took -everythingtheytookeverything-

Anti wakes up near his nest, his body aching and some distant voice in the back of his head screaming. He stares down at his hands, “That’s never happened before.” Except he doesn’t know what’s happened before or what he’s talking about. He thinks he should be angry but he doesn’t feel much of anything at the moment.

The only thing Anti remembers is that he has to patrol and make sure the subject stays in containment. That is his only purpose.

———

Everything is wrong. Anti shrieks as shreds another camera not caring that it pierces his skin. Everything is wrong and Anti is filled with so much rage these days he wrecks everything in his path. The white suits haven’t approached him since he managed to tear into one of their ships and sink his teeth in one of them.

It’s all the failed subject's fault. He knows it but he doesn’t know how he knows it. That just makes him angrier and he wants to tear them to pieces but he can’t because he needs to protect them -brothersmybrothersminenonono- he knows them he doesn’t know them.

“Stop it!” Anti screams while holding his head. His head hurts so much lately and it never seems to go away. “You don’t know them you DON’T!” Anti mutters to himself, “You don’t but they’re there. You know them!” Anti pounds on his head in frustration that he get the thoughts -don’trememberdon’trememberstopit- out of his head.

A rumble in the distance signaled the approach of white suits and Anti whipped his head around in that direction. He growled and flexed his claws as anger rushed through him.

“How dare they,” Anti hissed even though he didn’t know what he was talking about but he did. They took something from him. Something so precious. He hated them. Anti wanted them all dead.

Anti launched himself at the small ship in the distance with tremendous speed. He could hear the white suit inside the vessel panicking right before he rammed into it leaving a sizable dent in the side. With a roar released a fireball that impacted the ship and sent sparks sizzling off it.

Raking his claws down the side near the window, Anti rents the metal and tears into it furiously.

A spark of light and Anti is blown back from the ship sparking with a ringing in his ears. He shakes it off in no time to find the ship nearing the white suit facility. A place he can’t go. Anti growls and bares his teeth in its direction hoping the white suits could see it.

——————

“Hey what happened to SD-004?” The one white suit asked his partner as they sat at large monitors to scan the area.

The other looked up from his monitor in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“He’s not on the radar anymore,” The first says while gesturing at his monitor. The other wheels over saying, “That’s not possible he’s been chipped and doesn’t know it.”

The first shrugs, “Not unless he-” All the lights in the facility begin flashing red as a huge explosion rocks it, “…he remembers where it is,” the other finishes in dawning horror. Both of them look at each other in mute terror before another explosion sounds closer to them and sends them racing for cover as water begins rushing down the hallway towards them.

—————-

Anti roared as he tore another large hole into the side of the white suit base. It was filling with water rapidly and Anti slipped into the hole and pulled himself along through the few feet of water down the hallway.

There was something he had to do, something important. Protect the subject, said a white suit's voice in his head. “No!” Anti hissed back.

There was nothing in the rooms Anti passed but at the end was a locked door that didn’t open when Anti approached. He released a fireball to weaken the door before clawing it open using brute strength and rage.

Inside the subject was floating in a strange liquid. Anti’s throat closed up with -guiltsadnesshowdaretheynoJac- emotions he didn’t understand. The subject was important to the white suits -importanttomesoimportantmybrothe- and Anti grinned wickedly. He punched a hole into the container and extracted the subject into his arms -Jackwhathavetheydonetoyou- and shook his head to try and clear it. The subject was important to everything.

Anti could hear white suits approaching from nearby and he quickly dragged the subject with him down the hallway and out the hole. The heat of the lava zone rushed over Anti and he worried -don’thurtJackpleasebeok- that the subject would burn. Nothing happened though and Anti bundled the subject into his arms and took off towards the surface. He had to get away from the white suits -runfreedomyes- to somewhere they wouldn’t find him or the subject.


	19. Marvin's Trauma

It had been a couple of weeks after they saved Marvin. Danan and the Ocean’s Arms had tasked the boys with collecting more scrap and materials outside the shallows so they could start preparing equipment and preparing ships to take back down to the lava zone. It would still take some time but the boys were all eager to help now, all mistrust towards the Ocean’s Arms forgotten. They needed to do whatever they could to free Jack and Anti.

Marvin was the most helpful in missions since we could warp them in and out of areas quickly and efficiently. But even with his new cat mask keeping him stable, he still seemed off sometimes. The boys all decided to give him space if he needed it. Marvin, Chase, and Jamie elected to stay together in the cave, and Schneep and Jackie would go to their new homes but would meet often with the others and had radios with them in case of trouble. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Jackie swam into the cave late one afternoon expecting to see it empty but instead saw Marvin laying on his side in the deep shadowy end of the cove. He looked behind him hoping to see someone else approaching but it was empty all around. He looked to see almost everyone’s supplies and bags had been taken from their usual spot.

“Uh, Marv?” Jackie’s voice echoed through the cave and Jackie saw Marvin tense slightly, “You not up for a mission today?” Jackie slowly approached and Marvin curled in on himself, seeming to be hiding his face.

“I-i’m fine,” He muttered, “just tired.” But Jackie knew his brother, he could see the slight tremble of his tails under his armor. He scrunched his eyebrows together and swam closer. Marvin huddled up even more.

“You sure?” Jackie probed, tilting his head to the side. Marvin sounded annoyed as he replied, “yes Jackie I’m fine. I just… need some space.”

“You said that yesterday…” Jackie commented quietly. Marvin growled slightly and grabbed the sides of his head, “Well I said it again cuz it’s still true! Just leave me alone!”

Jackie wanted to listen to him but he could see Marvin starting to shake even more. And…was his head twitching? Jackie swam a little closer and saw Marvin’s mask thrown farther into the shadows.

“Look,” Jackie finally said sternly, “I know you said you’re fine but I’m not actually buying it!” He finally charged over and grabbed Marvin’s shoulder to get a look at his face, and Marvin cried in surprise and tried to hide more. But Jackie saw.

Marvin quickly covered his face in his elbows, shaking like a leaf. His face was covered in long scratches and cuts, most of them fresh and bleeding.

“Marvin,” Jackie’s voice broke slightly, “What happened?”

Marvin shook more and huddled against himself more, refusing to look back at Jackie. Eventually, he manages to choke out quietly, “N…Nightmares…”

Jackie’s stomach dropped. He hadn’t realized how everything that happened could be affecting Marvin. Cautiously, Jackie swam over Marvin and settled in the sand in front of him. He gently pushed back Marvin’s hair as the warped merman flinched away.

“…Do you want to talk about it?” Jackie asked gently. Marvin started to shake his head but stopped as he drew in a shaky breath. He still kept hidden but he reached out one hand towards Jackie. The younger brother quiet took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

“I-i…” Marvin shuddered and held back a wet gasp, “I close my eyes… and I see Jack. I saw him as he fell but I can’t shout or scream… cuz that damn mask is shoved down my throat!” Marvin chokes and grips tighter onto Jackie’s hand, “I couldn’t breathe I felt like I was dying and I needed to get this plastic off me…I-I didn’t… I thought it was still on my f-face…” Marvin carefully pries his other hand away and wipes at the cuts on his face, “then I woke up gasping and clawing at my f-face…” Marvin’s head twitches mechanically and he coughs slightly as one of his eyes seems to turn pink.

Jackie comes closer and holds Marvin’s hand even tighter, “it’s okay Marv, you’re not alone anymore…” Jackie lets go and reaches over to grab Marvin’s new mask. Marvin sees this and as soon as Jackie turns back around to hand it to him, Marvin hides this head again and cries out, “No!!”

Jackie blinks in confusion and gently responds, “Marvin… you need to keep your mask on… I see you twitching. Are you hearing the ringing again?”

“N-No…” Marvin lies through gritted teeth. “I-I don’t need that thing…”

“It’s not the same one that hurt you, Marvin! This is helping you!”

Marvin cries out in anger, “I don't care! I don’t want it! I want to be normal without that!!” The warped merman is sobbing now and Jackie’s heart hurts for his brother. He swims over, still holding his mask, and kneels down by him, gently rubbing his shoulder.

“I know Marv… but right now, this is the only way to keep you sane, you know?” Jackie feels Marvin tense more and he continues quickly, “it’s not a weakness to accept help to feel normal…”

Marvin seems to pause at that and he finally looks Jackie in the eye, his own red and puffy. Jackie gently hands the mask to Marvin and he takes it. He stares at it for a second before he brings it and holds it to his chest.

“I-I can’t… not right now at least…” he looks up at his brother with pleading eyes, “c-can…can you stay with me for a little while?”

Jackie smiles before he moves over and lays his head on Marvin’s tail. “I’m here for you bud!” He reaches out his hand and Marvin takes a hold of it and gives him a weak smile as he closes his eyes, mask still pressed close to his chest. Jackie sighs and closes his own eyes, not opposed to the thought of taking a nap for once.

\----

Jackie wakes up to the crack of thunder spurring him awake. He shudders slightly, his very small fear of storms sending a chill up his spine. He looks over to see Marvin is still sound asleep, curling up with his mask still in his arms. Jackie sighs slightly in relief that the storm didn’t wake Marvin. He had enough to deal with.

A low growl in his stomach alerts Jackie to the fact that he’s starving. He hadn’t had a chance to eat anything yet today and he figured Marvin hadn’t either. Actually, he wasn’t sure when the last time Marvin ate was. After taking one more look at Marvin to make sure he was still asleep, Jackie silently goes to retrieve his bag and heads out to go hunt down some food.

Almost immediately after the warmth of Jackie being on his tail leaves, Marvin’s face starts to scrunch up in discomfort. He whines and holds the mask closer to his face in his sleep, nightmares already resurfacing as Marvin’s body tenses from the boom of thunder echoing above.

Marvin opens his eyes to see he’s surrounded by the toxic mist of the lost river. The fog curls around his gills and scales and Marvin chokes on the feeling of not being able to breathe. Voices echo around him, it sounds like his brothers, or sometimes it sounds like the white suits. They echo horrible, horrible things to him.

**_Failure, mistake, unsafe, dangerous, waste of space, useless, should have been left alone, should be forgotten_ **

Marvin whimpers at the sounds and tries to swim away, not wanting to hear them anymore. But soon he’s being pushed back by a figure that sinks him farther and farther into the stinging smog. The figure presses down around Marvin’s throat and gills and Marvin chokes and tries to claw his way away. Then he sees who’s choking him.

It’s him.

Only his eyes burn pink and he has that horrible mask on his face and he stares down at Marvin with a cold calculated gaze. Marvin gasps and tries to use his tails to push away but the other Marvin’s firm grip is so strong and its claws are digging in his skin.

“Get away from me!!” Marvin screams, “You’re not me!! You don’t exist so just leave me alone!!” Marvin claws and punches and slaps the other Marvin to try to get him to budge but it doesn’t. If anything it only holds on stronger. Marvin starts to see dots forming in front of his eyes as he wheezes, “This is all your fault! You’re the reason everyone is scared of me! You’re the reason everyone left me alone! Just go away!!!” Marvin is sobbing and trying to take a deep breath but he can’t breathe, he can’t think.

A low robotic version of Marvin’s voice echoes in his ears as he feels close to blacking out.

“You can’t get rid of me. We are one and the same.”

“No!!” Marvin screams and suddenly he’s being jolted awake by Jackie roughly grabbing his arm.

“Marvin!” Jackie cries in panic, his arms full of fish. Marvin feels hot pain on his face again, as well as down his neck and he knows that he was scratching at his face in his sleep again. He bites back a sob as everything he just saw flashes back in front of his eyes and his body starts to shake. Jackie quickly dumps the fish and swims to be in front of Marvin and carefully pulls Marvin into his arms and pets back his hair.

“I-i heard you scream,” Jackie whispers as he tries to calm down his brother, “Nightmares again?”

Marvin takes a second to respond but slowly he nods his head against Jackie’s chest as the sound of thunder makes him tense. He curls his hands up in Jackie’s hood and tries to take shaky breaths.

“Y-you left me alone… “ Marvin finds himself breathing, a fit of sudden anger flooding his stomach. Jackie seems to stiffen at this and wraps up Marvin tighter.

“No, no, I didn’t mean to leave you, Marvin,” Jackie mumbles quickly, “I only went out to get us food I’m so sor-”

“No,” Marvin snaps, “Not now. You left me alone before! When we split… n-no one looked for me! I was tired and sick and lost and you guys-!” Marvin squeezes his eyes shut and tries to quell his anger, “And you left me when I got captured… you guys could have saved me before all this happened…” Marvin pushes back away from Jackie, no longer finding comfort in his embrace and he wipes at his nose and tries to keep his tears back.

“Did you guys even bother to look for me? Did I matter to you at all? Or were you secretly glad that your loser good for nothing broken brother was out of your hair?!” He spits and Jackie’s face falls.

“M-Marvin…” He breathes brokenly but Marvin continues.

“You all think I’m worthless, don’t you? Think I’m a waste of space? A burden?! Cuz who knows when I’m gonna snap again and hurt you guys right? Do guys just think I’m a monster now? A broken piece you need to fix with this stupid thing?!” He picks up his new mask from the ground and chucks it at Jackie and the piece of metal slashes slightly across the reaper’s face before it clangs loudly against the cave wall.

“Just tell me!” Marvin screams, “Tell me you think I’m nothing! Admit you’re scared of me! Just get it out there so I can stop believing you all actually love me!!”

Marvin is suddenly tackled from behind by a warm five-tentacled hug and he sees Jamie’s tuft of teal hair fall on his shoulder as the little one wraps himself around the warper. Marvin stiffens.

“Marvin..” Chase’s gentle voice echoes throughout the cave and soon he’s bending down by Marvin and petting back his hair, “You know that isn’t true.” Marvin tenses more and tries to move away by Jamie has him stuck in place.

“We love you very much, Marvin,” Schneep calls as he swims over and checks the cut on Jackie’s face. Jackie moves his head slightly, discreetly trying to brush away tears.

“You have no idea how happy we were to have found you Marv,” Jackie’s voice breaks. “We had no idea how to even begin looking for you… How the hell are you supposed to track down a creature that can just warp to any part of the ocean?”

Chase wipes a stray tear from Marvin’s face as he continues for Jackie, “And we didn’t want to push you. Everyone had to find the strength they needed to come back home… or realize that they needed to find a new one. We didn’t mean to leave you alone Marvin.’

Jamie nuzzles his face into Marvin’s shoulder and he can feel the little cuddlefish shaking with tears as they leak onto his skin, “We love you, Marvin!” Jamie whimpers and Marvin bites back another choked sob. He finally pries himself away from Jamie and swims upward, looking down at his family and trying to find the right words.

But they don’t come to him.

“I-i…” He stammers, “I need some air….” Marvin quickly mumbles as he speeds out the cove and warps away, leaving the rest of the boys looking at each other in concern.

Marvin swims with as much energy as he can muster. But in between his nightmares and not eating and everything else, he’s feeling very weak. He swims with his vision blurring and nearly faceplants into the surrounding coral. His shoulder hits the hard rock and he lurches to the side, losing height in the water. He blinks spots out of his eyes and growls under his breath in frustration. He’s too weak to warp very far.

He needs to get away from his brothers. All he can feel is bursting rage in his stomach. They left him, he knew they left him. Nothing they said otherwise would change that.

But he can hear them shouting in the distance, crying out his name in desperation. Something like guilt settles in his chest and he looks behind him for a second. But he quietly scoffs and takes off faster in the deeper blue water outside the shallows.

After swimming for what felt like forever, Marvin slows down, his chest heaving. He lets himself float down into the sand, his body sagging like a huge weight is on top of him. The warper merman squeezes his eyes shut and tries to get all his poisonous thoughts out of his head. But they’re stuck in place, every word striking and piercing his mind. 

The dreaded ringing starts up slow in Marvin’s ears, so faint at first that Marvin doesn’t realize. But it begins to build and build until Marvin in on his face in the sand, crying out and trying to make it go away. He grips his nails into the cuts on his face, trying to do anything to keep him himself as he heaves in breath after shaky breath.

Marvin faintly feels the presence of the others through the horrible drone of the ringing and he hears his name being called through the static. He flinches back when one of them tries to touch him and he’s not sure who it is.

“Don’t touch me!” He’s shouting, his whole body shaking. He unsteadily falls over into the sand, gritting his teeth against the noise.

“Marvin, please!” He hears Jackie plead, “Talk to us! Just tell us what’s wrong!”

“No!” Marvin screams, gripping his head, “I can’t! You wouldn't’ get it! None of you understand how this feels!”

His final words seem to echo throughout the still ocean as Marvin sucks in a shaky breath.

“You don’t know what it’s like…” He adds softly, his voice breaking, “What it’s like to battle against this part of yourself you hate… a part that won’t let go.”

There’s more silence as the ringing seems to die down some before a bitter laugh causes Marvin to look up. Jackie stares down at him with fire in his eyes.

“We don’t know what that’s like? I’m the dumbass that can’t control my instincts and my anger that got us all spilt-up in the first place!” Jackie laughs again but tears peek out the corners of his eyes as he nearly whispers, “I blame myself every day for that….”

Henrik lightly slaps Jackie’s shoulder and the Reaper’s tail flicks in annoyance before he’s brought into a quick hug by the older brother, “That vas not your fault Jackie…” Schneep let’s go and stares at the sand,” I understand too Marvin… i-i hate my stalker instincts so much… it keeps me away and distant from the people I love.” The stalker merman lifts his goggles to wipe at his eyes as Jackie lightly takes his hand.

Marvin sees out of the corner of his eye as Jamie taps the ground to get his attention. The littlest brother seems to have trouble finding what he wants to say so he just simply closes his eyes with a sad expression and ghosts his fingers over his throat. Marvin gets the message. Jamie hates that he can’t voice what he wants to say all the time.

Chase cautiously approaches Marvin’s side and lays a hand gently on his before he speaks, “I... I hate when my sadness makes me in to a person who can’t take care of you all….” Chase can’t meet Marvin’s eyes but he squeezes the warper’s hand tighter. “We all have a part of ourselves we wish we could change… but change is hard to come by. All we can do is try and lean on the people who love us when things get hard.” Finally, the older boy meets Marvin’s eyes and offers him a gentle smile.

A small bump on his back causes Marvin to turn around. He sees Jamie sheepishly offer him his cat mask and Marvin stares down at it.

“I know it’s hard to admit you need help to be normal Marvin…” Chase quietly encourages, “But it’s what you need to do to get better. To overcome what you hate.”

Marvin shakily takes the mask and takes a second before he slips it over his head. The ringing stops almost instantly and Marvin’s eyes start to water.

“I’m sorry-” He starts but he’s cut off with a yelp as he bombarded by a giant hug from all his brothers.

“Shut up Marvin,” Jackie mumbles, “We don’t need to hear that crap.”

Marvin laughs wetly as his tears leak out into the water and he lets his headrest on his brother’s shoulder. That aching loneliness and betrayal he’s felt all this time evaporates as his brother’s warmth surrounds him.

It’s good to know he’s not the only one battling himself.


	20. Breaking Further

The boys all leisurely swam through the still waters, heading past the shallows’ water towards the deep sea. Chase was upfront, talking casually to the boys while following an indicator on the tracker the Ocean’s Arms had given them.

It had been about three months since the boys had returned with Marvin, and with the boys gathering supplies and working with the Ocean’s Arms, things were seemingly falling into order. The base had doubled in size, making new passages and tanks for the boys to work around the base in. When they weren’t out looking for more materials, most of the boys liked to see what they could learn from the Ocean’s Arms. They were making pretty decent headway on getting materials for making a ship to head down to the lava zone, but there was still much more to collect.

Today Danan had sent them out to check a strange signal just past the shallows’ borders that looked like it could be white-suited related. That usually meant spare scrap if anything.

“What if it’s actually an escape pod or something?” Jackie piped up excitedly, “Imagine us taking down a whole ship filled with white suits!!” Jackie swam around his brothers, making big explosion noises and miming the booms and the others snickered. Jamie mimed the booms too with a big grin.

“We could break through the back hull and slash at the engines in the back then swim away and watch it explode in a big cloud of fire!!” Jackie shouted. Schneep gave him a curious look and tilted his head, “Where did you learn so much about white suits ships, Jackie?”

Jackie paused and looked away slightly, cheeks getting pinker. “I… uh... I might have been doing some PDA research on…stuff….”

Henrik’s eyes fill with stars and he grabs Jackie into a big hug, “Aw mien little baby brother is doing research!!! I’m so proud!!”

Jackie quickly pushed him away, blushing brighter, “S-shut up!” He rubbed his arm and looked away, looking defensive, “I… Zara made the ships look really cool... I thought it might be fun to see how they work… then maybe I could help make one to get Jack and Anti back…”

Schneep beams at him, much to Jackie’s annoyance. Marvin smiles and joins in.

“You’re not the only one learning new things! Zara and the others started showing me how to use the habitat builder. It’s like magic! You’re just like Hey presto! And a new thing just whooshes out! You should have seen their faces when I made a flower pot and they had to watch it float away to the surface,” Marvin snickered at the memory with a mischievous grin.

“Danan says if we do another just plain scrap pick up soon she might give us one!”

“We better get on that then,” Chase calls from the front, “We could use some furniture in the cave don’t you think?”

Jamie gasps slightly and spins around excited at the thought of new things in their home and the other boys laugh good-naturedly at his excitement.

Their laughter dies down slightly as Chase holds up a hand and stares down on the beacon on his screen. Slowly he points ahead to a large mountain-like rock ahead of them. The water above its opening seems to bubble and react to the water around it.

“A thermal vent?” Schneep muses aloud and Chase nods, pocketing the tracker into his hip pack where his blaster also sits.

“Whatever Dr. Danan wanted us to find, it’s down there.”

“Won’t the water there hurt you guys?” Marvin asks worriedly. Schneep shakes his head, “If we are not down there for long we should be fine. Might be unpleasant zho.”

“Enough swimming around!” Jackie exclaims, ‘Let’s check it out!” He starts to swim past everyone but Chase catches him by his hood.

“Hang on there, speedster.” Chase chides as Jackie pouts at him, “If this is white suits we should approach this cautiously. You know, before we’re blown full of holes.” He gives a lopsided smile and his eyes flick slightly to look down at his shoulder, where a slight red scar from his own blaster wound is just barely visible. Jackie slowly nods in agreement, and all the boys start heading to the edge of the rock as quietly as they can.

One by one the boys peak their heads over the edge to get a look at what’s below. The heat stings their faces but it’s not as bad as they thought.

“I don’t see any white suits,” Jackie whispers, sounding almost disappointed.

“I think I see something down there though…” Chase breathes, “But it’s too hard to see, can anyone get a closer look?”

Marvin cautiously peeks his head up above the others and actually shoves down Jamie’s head to get a better look. But once he does, he audibly gasps.

“It’s…. It’s Anti.”

“What?!” A couple of boys shout in unison and they all pop up more to see. All their jaws fall open at the sight.

“Oh mein god…” Henrik whispers.

“Is that…?” Jackie blinks.

Jamie whispers in shock, “…Jack!”

“….what are they?” Chase mumbles, “How did they escape-”

Chase is cut off by the rush of bubbles as somebody brushes past them. He stares in horror as he realizes it’s Jaime, swimming fast to try to get closer.

“Jamie no!” Chase whisper screams after him, but soon everyone is diving after the youngest brother.

Just as Jamie seems to get too close, a warp gate opens in front of him and dumps him in the middle of the group and Marvin quickly scoops him up and holds him still, “Oh no you don’t!”

But it’s too late. Anti’s head snaps up at the sound of the warp gate and his eyes glow yellow in slight fear and anger as he spots them floating above them. He defensively crouches over Jack and wraps him up in a couple of his tails and he roars at the boys and puffs out his scales in aggression.

The boys all huddle back in fear at the sight. Chase and Schneep stare at their brother shell shock, neither seeing in person what the white suits managed to turn their brother into.

“I-intruders!” Anti shouts their way, “f-freaks-s-ubjects-! Come to take SE-brothe-s-subject!” Anti’s head twitches wildly as he grips Jack tighter in his tail, “s-subjects should leave! G-GEt AWAY!”

Jack hangs limply in Anti’s grasp, seemingly asleep. But he looks thin and weak and his breathing is short and shallow. His skin is flushed red and looks burned in some places and he seems to be sweating.

“A-Anti,” Jackie calls cautiously and pushes further past everyone, puffing out his chest to look brave, “Y-you’re hurting Jack! Just let him go and we can take you both home-”

“No!” Anti growls and he crouches closer to the comatose sea emperor, “c-can’t-cant let subject go- protect! Haveto… p-p-protect!” Anti’s voice sounds strange. A strange mix of mechanical and desperate, skipping in places like a broken monitor.

“You’re not protecting him, you’re burning him!” Jackie yells in anger, “Let him go!”

Anti’s eyes flicker with static and his grip loosens slightly. “D-don't want to hurt him-w-wanttosave-!” Anti begins to look at them with a frightened expression but suddenly it shifts and he curls his tails even tighter around Jack as if threatening to strangle him. “M-must punish- w-w-white suits! T-took everything-g-g-need to deSTROy!” He growls dangerously and squeezes tighter and Jack seems to gasp slightly in his sleep.

“Anti no!” Marvin screams, “You can’t! He’s your brother!!”

Anti pauses in his rage, and his expression falls. Slowly, he uncurls his tails and Jack rolls onto the ledge they’re on lifelessly. Anti breathes heavily, gripping at his head, unfocusedily staring out at nothing.

“B-brother-broth-Jac-!” He mumbles quickly, madly. “C-can’t hurt-i-important-why… why is he important? Why… do i need to protect him? P-protect… protect….” He starts dissolving into confusing gibberish as his voice shifts back and forth between robotic and raspy.

The boys all stare at each other in semi-horror seeing Anti like this. Slowly, Chase swallows and tries to approach closer.

“Anti,” He tries to say softly, “We can help you protect Jack, we want to protect him too. JUst… let us take him somewhere safe and we can get him help… get you help…”

Anti’s shoulders tense as his rambling starts to get louder and more coherent, “Protectprotectprotect-protect protect… project subject…. Subject SE-002… must be protected at all costs….” His voice starts to go flat and robotic, “primary objective… protect subject… serve a̲̤̼̲̔̏͠l̟̮͉̯͗̈́̈̈t̢̺̣̦̿̿͒̉ḙ̱̱̓̇̏̒͜r̟̻̬̜̍̋̿͝a̖̬̫͈̾͊̓͠ ̨̪̯̠̆̂͂̋.”

“A-Anti?” Chase calls cautiously, then suddenly a green blur is throwing him through the water while roaring in his face. Anti’s eyes bore into him, pure black and terrifying. Chase cries out and tries to get away but Anti digs his claws into his arms and Chase can’t pull away or reach his gun.

Jackie roars and knocks into Anti’s side, pulling Anti off the older brother and sending them both spiraling into the wall. The whole cavern shakes in protest as the boys take turns rolling and throwing each other into the rock, trying to pin the other down.

Henrik hurriedly grabs onto Marvin’s arm, pointing down to where Jack looks like he’s about to fall off the edge. Marvin without a second thought opens up a warp gate to get over to him. Marvin spurs down and grabs onto Jack’s arm and around his chest to try to grab him, but soon Anti roars in rage, and a fireball blasts past Marvin’s face and he cries out and gets blown back through the warp gate before it dissolves back into foam. Jack falls back onto the ledge and lays still.

Marvin falls back nearly into Schneep and gasps at the pain on his face. He reaches up and feels his mask is slightly charred. He swallows, praying that won’t affect the signal inside.

Chase is panicking, looking back towards Jack then back toward Anti and Jackie fighting. He has to do something, but he can’t hurt Anti with his blaster!

Jackie manages to skewer Anti in the shoulder with a mandible and throws him against the cave wall as Anti screams in agony. His eyes flicker as he tries to suck in water and he growls weakly back up at Jackie. Jackie roars back in response, hoping intimidation will keep him from further hurting himself.

It seems like Anti might do just that as his breathing gets worse and his head twitches from side to side. His eyes dim back to a normal color and he stares at Jackie as if finally seeing him clearly. Then his shoulders stiffen and he ducks his head towards his shoulder as if trying to get something off the side of his head before he cries out in pain as he convulses like he’s being shocked. Then his eyes are black again and he dives at Jackie again with claws outstretched.

Jamie watches in horror as his brothers fight then suddenly a memory springs up in his head. He remembers those black disks in Anti’s ears… the white suits were talking through them. Maybe if he… Jamie quickly looks around then spots Chase below. He swims towards the older brother at crazy speeds and quickly digs through Chase’s bag.

Chase cries out in surprise, “Jamie! What the hell are you-?”

Jamie pulls the blaster out of Chase’s pack and before Chase can shout in protest, Jamie is spinning and shouting as loud as he can, “Anti!”

Anti pauses as he hears the raspy broken yell behind him and turns, his eyes dimming slightly in recognition, “J-Jam-?” Then Jackie is yelling back in fear, “J! Put that down!” Anti tenses at the shout and looks back to see Jamie aiming the blaster at him. ANti’s instincts take over and he pushes out of Jackie’s grasp and soars down at Jamie with an angry roar. Jackie tries to grab him to stop him, but Jamie yells, “Jackie MOVE!” and Jackie finds himself halting in place.

Jamie fires the blaster as soon as Anti is close enough, aiming straight for the side of his face. He hits his mark and the sea dragon is blown to the side, screaming bloody murder. He finally rights himself and holds onto the side of his face, which is now charred and smoking slightly. The black disk in his ear hangs out of it slightly, broken. Anti takes a couple of seconds to process what the hell just happened before his body seizes up on the other side and he screams again. As if two parts of himself are fighting. Finally, his eyes roll up in the back of his head and he falls through the water.

Jamie shoves the blaster back into Chase’s hands and dives after Anti, quickly scooping up the fainted sea dragon. He mumbles quietly apologizes and pats Anti’s face.

The others stare at each other shocked for a second before they all scramble to either help Jamie with Anti or to pick up Jack. They all stare down at their brothers as if they were seeing ghosts.

“I guess… we head back to Danan then?” Henrik finally pipes up to the others. One by one the others nod and gather up the passed out brothers and start heading back to the shallows.

“….is… is this real?” Marvin whispers to Chase as they swim back in silence. Chase seems to shudder slightly and looks down at Jack in his arms, then Anti on Jamie’s back.

“Yeah… yeah, I think it is…”

\------

When Anti wakes up, he’s surrounded by white everywhere. The sight causes his heart to seize up in a panic and he’s suddenly bursting up from the table and springing away. But, he’s not bolted down. Why wasn’t he bolted down?

There are wires and tubes pierced into his skin and he tugs them off with a growl, wincing slightly at the pain. His eyes are darting around whatever tank he’s in, his sore muscles already bunching up to attack whatever white suit was dumb enough to not keep him contained.

There’s nothing around though. He’s alone. This doesn’t make any sense.

Anger burns in his stomach and suddenly he’s screaming and tossing around any equipment he can around the space, reveling in the noise as they crash against the walls and floor. He claws through the steel of the table and walls and tries to break through the glass. But the glass is stronger than anything else here. He beats his hands against the glass and throws himself against it, but it doesn’t budge. He becomes even angrier.

“Let me out you white suits fucks!!!” he screams, banging against the glass, “Let me go!!”

He continues to bang and scream, even tries blasting a fireball but it bounces back from the glass and nearly crashes into him. Everything in his body is screaming at him. This is wrong. Everything is wrong. There’s no way the white suits would let him throw a fit like this without subduing him. So why weren’t they?

He shouts up to the ceiling, “Is this some kind of sick experiment?! Just do whatever you plan to do to me and get it over with bastards!”

A gentle voice suddenly comes over the comm into the tank, causing Anti to seize up. “Anti, it’s okay, just try to calm down.”

Anti whips around to see a stranger’s face peeking at him through the window. But he can tell it’s a white suit, even if she’s dressed differently.

He flies towards the window and bangs on it, causing the scientist to jolt backward. Anti bares his fangs at her and tries to dig his claws into the glass.

“Who the hell are you?” He growls, “What the hell are you trying to do to me?”

“W-we’re not here to hurt you Anti-”

“Bullshit! I Know you white suits… I know you got some sick twisted up plan set up for me.” His expression turns slightly confused, “The only thing I don’t understand is… why you’re letting it go on so long… why I’m… not…” He trails off as he realizes something. He blinks and pushes away, his voice losing his edge.

“Why… why I’m not forgetting…why... I can…” He suddenly looks lost, his eyes becoming wide as saucers. He reaches up towards his ears, waiting to feel the slick implants the white suits stuck there. But he finds nothing embedded in. His right ear burns like hell.

“What…” He breathes, “What the fuck?”

There’s banging on another window followed by a chorus of voices calling his name. Anti’s spins around to see his… his brothers. They’re piling on top of each other, all trying to peek through the glass, their eyes shining and smiles spreading across their faces.

Anti finds himself backing up into a wall, his eyes getting wider and his heart pounding. He can’t believe what he’s seeing.

“This… this isn’t real…” He feels tears in his eyes but he pushes them back, slowly sinking to the floor. He covers his hands over his ears and digs his fingers into his hair, mumbling madly, “This isn’t real, this isn’t real this isn’t real…”

The boys’ faces all fall and they look at each other in concern.

“What’s happening to him? W-we took out the chip! Shouldn’t he be okay now?” Marvin whimpers.

“Danan,” Schneep says, swimming over to comm into her observation room, “What is happening?”

Danan sighs, “He was stuck in a brainwashed state for a long time, with Altera messing up his head and thoughts and memories. He’s… very detached from reality right now. I wasn’t expecting him to wake up so fast before we could ease him into this.”

“What if one of us went in there?” Chase suggests,” Maybe seeing that we’re actually here will help him!”

Jamie nods vigorously. Danan taps her fingers on her desk, watching Anti as he curls up into a ball, still mumbling to himself.

“I suppose… it couldn’t hurt. But, I can’t predict what he will do… “ She admits, a look of worry crossing her face.

There’s a tense beat of silence before Jackie pipes up, “I’ll go. I can handle anything Anti throws at me.” He rubs his arm nervously and adds, “Plus… I dunno I felt like we had a really good relationship before he was taken… I hope he’d be happy to see me.”

Danan smiles gently at Jackie through their shared window, “I’m sure he will be Jackie.” She clicks some buttons on her desk and the hatch above the boys opens up before one in Anti’s tank opens too. Jackie looks back to his brothers and they all give him encouraging smiles. Jackie gives them a shaky one back before he swims upwards and through the tubes to the other tank.

Anti doesn’t react as Jackie emerges. His eyes are screwed shut as he lays in the corner. He looks so small and scared and Jackie swallows. It’s so strange to see his older brother looking so frightened.

Carefully, Jackie swims down next to Anti and hovers a hand over his shoulder, trying not to startle him. “Anti?” He whispers and Anti tenses and snaps his head up to stare at him, his eyes red and puffy.

There’s a second as Anti just stares at him before he closes his eyes again and mumbles, “You’re not real… you’re not here…”

“Anti…” Jackie reaches over and finally places a hand on Anti and he feels the older brother’s muscles tense tightly and Anti flashes out a clawed hand and almost slashes across Jackie’s arm. Then he’s staring, even more, his breathing getting frantic. He reaches out a hand and latches onto Jackie’s forearm. Jackie ignores the way his claws pierce his skin.

Anti stares at Jackie’s arm like it’s made of foam and will disappear at any moment. But when it doesn’t he pulls himself upright and shakily reaches out another hand to grab at Jackie. Jackie meets his hand and grips it in his own.

“I’m right here Anti,” He whispers gently, “I’m here.”

Anti chokes slightly, having trouble finding his voice. Hot tears finally roll down his face as he grips tighter onto Jackie. He stammers, the name of his brother on the tip of his tongue but he struggles like he still can’t remember.

Finally the dam breaks.

“J-Jackie!” Anti sobs, the name feeling both foreign on his tongue yet warmly familiar. Anti doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t draw Jackie closer as he shakes with emotions he hadn’t felt in such a long time.

“I-I thought I-I k-killed you!” He chokes, “I thought you were d-dead! I-I-I almost killed you! All of you!” Tears fall down his face in streams as he hiccups. Though his expression still looks angry, like it’s the only emotion he knows how to make.

Jackie pulls Anti into a big bear hug and holds on tight even as the tinier mermen seizes up at the touch. Then, the sea dragon buries his face into Jackie’s shoulder and grabs into his back as if acting on instinct.

“I’m okay Anti…” Jackie whispers as he buries his own face into Anti’s shoulder, “I’m here… and you’re home.”

Anti breaks down, shaking against Jackie as the reaper just holds on tight.

Behind the glass of the other tank, Marvin perks up from where he’s pressed against the window. “He remembers!!” He cries as he looks back to the others, “he said Jackie’s name!!”

The other boys smile wide at each other then look over at Danan with big puppy eyes. The doctor looks weary but eventually, she sighs with a small smile and waves them off.

Soon, a gaggle of mermen is swimming their way through the tubes and into Anti’s tank. Jamie piles onto the sea dragon first, digging his face into the merman’s side. He’s already crying.

Marvin pushes back his mask from his face before he piles on too, followed closely by Schneep. Chase follows last but he wraps everyone up in a big group hug, smiling warmly.

However, Anti’s as stiff as can be, his eyes darting around to the faces of his brothers that he’s still struggling to remember the names of. His breathing is picking up to a panicked pace, his claws itching to claw at something. He chokes like he can’t breathe, his eyes darkening like they could turn black. A low growl pries itself from his throat.

Jackie feels the tenseness first and jerks his head up, loosening his arms. “Anti?” He asks quietly and he gets a low growled reply, “I-I can’t breathe…!”

Jackie’s eyes widen slightly and he shouts to the others, “Guys give him room!” The other boys all scoot back away from the shivering Anti, who’s trying to hold his arms against his body to get him to stop.

“Holy shit, are you alright Anti?” Marvin asks and Anti slowly shakes his head, before he bows it against his chest.

“T-too loud, t-t-too much!” His head twitches and he brings his hands up to grip at his head, “I-I know you guys b-but n-names…! I-I c-c-can’t-t-t!” He curls back up into a ball his whole body shaking. The boys all look at each other sadly.

After a few minutes of silence, the comm picks up. “Boys… I think it’s best to give him space.”

One by one the boys all solemnly nod and make their way out of the tank, a couple of them making glances back at Anti or wiping at tears.

But as Jackie tries to leave, Anti’s hand darts out and wraps around the end of his tail. Jackie turns around to see Anti hasn’t looked up but he mumbles quietly, “don’t l-leave me a-alone….i-I c-can’t…”

Jackie’s heart breaks and he leans back down to his brother and hesitantly reaches out a hand. Anti jerks back and curls up smaller. “I…I can’t…”

Jackie shakes his head and leans up against the wall, close enough to be near Anti but far enough to give him space. “I understand Anti, I’ll be here.”

\-----

Anti blearily opens his eyes and catches the hint of voices talking near him. He recognizes one, It’s j…Jackie. Yeah, Jackie. The other he can’t place. He stays in place and tries to slow down his breathing so he still sounds asleep. Maybe he can learn something.

“Zara quit worrying. Everything will be okay…” Jackie says in a gentle tone.

The voice that answers back is female. “I just don’t understand why you have to be stuck in there with him….” Zara whines slightly, “Couldn’t you all take shifts?”

Jackie sighs, “Maybe, but right now it seems like he only remembers me. And I’m the only one who can take his blows if he loses it.”

“But that’s so dangerous!” Zara cries.

“It’s only for a little bit,” Jackie replies softly, “then hopefully everything will go back to normal.”

The girl huffs, “You should at least be able to take a break… not even to hang out with me but just to recuperate and eat and sleep in your own home… He’s going to be in there a while Jackie… Don’t tire yourself out trying to take care of him.”

There’s silence for a second before the other merman sighs again, “I… I’ll talk about it with Danan. Might be nice to get out for a little bit… It’s already been a couple of days hasn’t it?”

Zara sounds a little nervous, “Yeah, uh… Danan has been putting some sedatives in his food so he’ll sleep more. Time must be passing really slowly for you.”

Anti’s eyes fly open so he could see the pair, his heart starting to race. He had been out for days already? Everything was such a blur.

Jackie shrugs and grins at the girl through the window, “I got those pdas you gave me. Can even read a few paragraphs now! Since most of the time, I don’t wanna disturb him with the noise.”

Zara presses herself against the window with a big smile, “I’m proud of you Jackie!!” She lets her hand linger on the window and Jackie moves over and presses his hand on top of hers with a gentle smile. Zara sighs.

“I hope this all blows over soon…”

“It will Zara. I’ll see you soon okay? I think he might be waking up soon…”

“Okay Jackie, I’ll talk to you later.” The girl lets her hand linger on the window for a little bit longer before she walks away. Jackie watches her leave until she disappears out of sight. Before the other merman turns around, Anti shuts his eyes and pretends to be asleep again, though his insides are writhing.

He’s becoming an experiment again. Just some new problem these new white suits need to fix and condition. He felt sick. He needs to get out of here.

Anti hears as Jackie settles back into the corner and curls up with a PDA. A pda he got from that girl… a white suit. His own brother, being friendly with a white suit. Well… from what he’d seen the ones here don’t actually wear white suits.. More like…blue suits. But still, Anti knew the scientists when he saw them. They were all the same. Power-hungry people ready to do whatever they can to creatures in their sick pursuit of knowledge.

When Anti wakes up later he sees that Jackie is asleep in the corner now. Anti kinda gives a sigh of relief. He doesn’t feel like talking to the other merman right now.

The sea dragon perks up his head and sees through the window that leads further through the facility. In the tank right next to his he sees some of his brothers. It’s the purple one and the one in the goggles. Anti’s brain struggles to remember their names. Luckily, his hearing can pick up their conversation and it helps jog his memory.

“Really Marvin, what were you thinking?” The stalker mermen sighed, as he wrapped the purple one’s arm with seaweed bandages. Marvin winces and gives the other merman a timid smile.

“Well, I thought the little guy was trapped!.. But then it turned out to be a bleeder and had… friends. But c’mon Henrikkk I was trying to be good!” Marvin whines at the older brother.

Henrik sighs and pokes Marvin’s arm where he was just bandaged causing the other to squeal and jump, “I think you need to brush up on your fauna knowledge so this does not keep happening…”

Marvin laughs, “Oh c’mon Schneep, don’t pretend that you don’t like playing doctor! You loveee it!”

Schneep screws his face up and pokes Marvin again, “I may enjoy treating people, but not if it means you get into trouble! Little brat….”

Marvin laughs and spurs upwards, floating over and kissing Henrik’s cheek and patting him on the head, “Well I’ll try to stay out of trouble, but you know me!” Marvin cackles and heads out of the tube at the top of the tank. Schneep pushes up his goggles and pinches his nose with a loud sigh. But a hint of a smile lingers on his lips.

Anti pushes back from the window, the gears in his brain turning. The goggled one… Schneep. He patches everyone up. Anti growls slightly at the thought. Just like a white suit.. But, that could be Anti’s only way of getting out of this cell. It seems Henrik liked to work on his brothers when they’re injured.

The sea dragon looks around the cell, hoping to see the broken equipment still lingering around.

It seems that Jackie had cleaned up what he could and huddled the broken things in the corner. Anti sees the broken frame of a monitor with sharp jagged edges. He grins to himself.

He feels up to his neck scar. Something he was born with and no one understood. It had been a while since it had bled. Anti swims over, past Jackie who stirs slightly in his sleep and carefully pries a piece of glass out of the busted monitor. Without so much a second thought he brings the shard to his neck and begins to slice. A pained cry comes out of his mouth at the sensation.

Jackie startles awake at the sound and Anti pants against the pain. He keeps going though, taking the glass and going to slice across his wrists. Jackie cries out and tackles Anti to the ground, fear in his eyes.

“W-what the hell are you doing Anti?!” Jackie questions, his voice wavering. Anti growls, trying to play up the fact that he was losing it. Jackie holds down the hand that has the shard and Anti tries to struggle. He spits, blood leaking from his slit throat spraying out and hitting Jackie’s face. The reaper looks horrified.

“Schneep!” Jackie screams, “Danan, someone!!” There’s a startled cry from nearby and soon Schneep’s voice comes on in the tank.

“Jackie?! What is wrong?”

“It’s Anti! He’s hurting himself!”

There’s a pause of silence before Schneep’s voice comes back. “K-knock him out or something and bring him here quickly!”

Anti’s breath hitches and his eyes widen. No matter what charade he’s playing, he doesn’t want to lose consciousness again. He grips Jackie’s wrist in a death grip, trying to meet the other’s eyes.

“Please,” He rasps, “Don’t knock me out. I-I’ll cooperate... Just please…don’t.”

Jackie looks conflicted for a second before his expression softens. He gently helps Anti up and loops the sea dragon’s arm around his shoulder.

“Okay Anti… let’s just get you help okay?”

Jackie leads Anti through the tubes into the tank Anti saw Marvin and Schneep in earlier. Schneep is pacing around, wringing his hands and he turns once he hears them enter. He immediately spurs over to the two.

“Mein god! What happened?”

Jackie looks embarrassed. “i-i dunno. I thought I still had time to rest so i- and then he had…”

Henrik shakes his head and takes Anti from Jackie and leads him over to the table and quickly starts looking over his wounds. Anti has to try very hard to stay still. Eventually, Henrik smiles and looks back to Jackie.

“It’s only a shallow wound… we just need to bandage it and he’ll be fine.”

Jackie sighs in relief and presses up against the wall, “Ohhhh I thought I fucked up!”

Schneep reaches under the table and pulls out more bandages and gets back over to Anti.

“I don’t know what led you to this Anti… but you can talk to us. Even if you don’t remember us well... We all care very much about you and your safety…”

Anti feels something like guilt stir in his stomach. But he needs to get outta here before they stick him back in a tank.

Anti mutters almost too quietly to hear, “Sorry doc…” He quickly gets up and shoves Henrik out of the way, building up a fire blast and sending it straight towards the outside wall. Jackie tries to shout but he gets hit by the blast and slides across the floor, out cold.

Henrik screams after him, “Anti no! Wait!” But Anti ignores him and rockets out of the base and into the open ocean.

He refuses to be a prisoner again.

\-----

Anti swims and swims, a wave of burning anger swirling painfully in his stomach. Nothing makes sense. His brothers, who he still can’t remember fully, are working with the white suits. He may not remember much, but he knows the white suits tortured him every single moment for who knows how long. The fact that his brothers are putting trust into those heartless scientists and their machines make his insides boil.

Yet as he speeds away, looking for an escape, Anti feels drawn to somewhere close by. Somewhere his brain keeps screaming at him to remember. His body seems to follow the path as if by instinct. And soon he’s led to a decently sized cave nestled in between tall coral and plants tucked away in the corner of the safe shallows.

Anti skids to a halt outside the mouth of the cave, his breath suddenly hitching. Images flash in front of him. Flashes of the seven boys laughing and chasing each other around the landscape. Of tussles and arguments followed by warm hugs. Of the sun dimming and them all heading inside while suppressing yawns.

“Home….” Anti finds himself whispering as he stares at the cove. Slowly, he swallows and pushes to head inside even as his head starts to hurt from the flashing memories.

But as he enters the cave he’s flooded with new conflicting memories. In his head, the cave is natural. With an open part to the cove that shows the ocean above and lights the center. With little nests made of seaweed and junk and collections of things shoved in the dark corner. But now, there’s more. Thin metal devices line the wall and pictures that glow blue seem to hint at what’s inside. There’s a metal square that houses what looks like blooming sea plants. Another piece of metal sticks on the wall too, an orange piece like a rounded square. When Anti touches it, it springs open and reveals mechanics ready to fabricate things inside. Below the fabricator a small L-shaped device rests, charging in the sunlight.

Anti’s brain pretty much short circuits. He sees the cave as he remembers it glitching in between images of the enhanced cave. Then there are flashes of the lava zone. And the labs of the white suits. Everything is blurring together and Anti finds himself screaming, not sure what’s real at this point. Through the blur and the aching in his head, Anti finds the metal intrusions to his home and starts tearing and destroying anything he can get his claws on.

He tears and claws and screams until finally, a voice breaks through the din.

“Anti!”

Anti twirls around to come face to face with his brothers. Jackie is leaning on Jamie’s shoulder, his face and parts of his shoulder red from the blast Anti used to escape. The rest of the boys look terrified, eyes wide as they stare at the destruction Anti had done. Chase gently spurs forward, reaching out a hand towards Anti.

“Anti… what are you doing?”

Anti tries to catch his breath, chest heaving. A growl builds up in his throat as he grips his hands into fists. The skin on his knuckles is broken and bleeding and various cuts and scrapes litter his arms.

“I’m… I’m fixing our home!” Anti yells, “A home that you all littered and ruined with machines!” He points accusingly at his brothers, teeth gritted together in rage, “Fucking white suit equipment!”

“Anti please, let us explain!” Schneep tries to cry, but Anti cuts him off.

“No! No I don’t want to hear it! While I was trapped and enslaved by the white suits down in the lava zone, you all decided to become buddy buddy with more of them just because they wear a different color! And then use their tools like you’re one of them!” He rockets forward, going to growl in Henrik’s face, his eyes alight with fire.

“I never liked that you tried to play white suit while we grew up... And now look at you! You’ve spread your white suit loving disease to everyone else!” Henrik turns away, looking ready to cry.

Marvin bristles and pushes Anti away from Schneep,” Hey! Leave him alone!” Anti flicks his tails in anger but Marvin stands his ground, glaring down at Anti.

“You don’t get it Anti. You don’t know their story, and how they’re saved our lives!” Marvin barks.

“Bullshit!” Anti cries, “The white suits don’t save people, you idiot! They make you think they’re saving you but they’re just using you! They don’t care about anything, except their sick twisted experiments. That’s all you are to them! All any of us are! Experiments to fuck with!”

Marvin bites his lip before he sighs, lifting up his mask slightly. Henrik whispers under his breath, “Marvin, no!” But the warper merman puts up a hand to reassure him. He then looks dead-eyed at Anti.

“These guys are different. They’ve saved Jackie from dying twice. When Chase got injured by a blaster, they kept him from bleeding to death. And they actually treat us like intelligent beings who could learn from them instead of being beneath them.” Marvin now fully slips off his mask and lets the metal piece fall heavily into the sand.

“And you might think I look like an experiment now. I can see that look in your eyes. But that thing keeps me from going crazy. It keeps me myself. Otherwise, I would have been just like you, a slave to the white suits down in the lava zone.”

Anti’s head is killing him. Everything keeps shifting from memories to reality and back again and he feels sick to his stomach.

“…That can’t be true,” He mumbles, gripping his head slightly, “No human is capable of thinking like that. They don’t actually care about us. We’re just a bunch of freaks to them!”

“That’s not true!” Jackie suddenly screams, trying to untangle himself from Jamie as his face burns red in rage. Jamie grabs him tight around his waist to keep him from rocketing towards the sea dragon, worried he’ll aggregate his burns more. “I know they care about us! I know they do!!”

Anti bares his teeth back at his brother, his back fin bristling and spiking out in anger. “They keep you all in tanks. Don’t even pretend that’s just for your convenience. They’re observing you! Making you think you’re not some caged animal by giving you a chance to leave but they keep you interested enough to come back… just till they get enough info on you to fill in the blanks for what they need. They. don’t. Care! They’re fucking scientists! Everything they do is just something that gets them to their next goal or experiment.”

Jackie looks at Anti almost heartbroken as he thinks about the sea dragon’s words. He seems to sink slightly in Jamie’s grip, who looks equally as confused. But Marvin just gets angrier, pushing forward to come face to face with his brother. But the warper’s head seems to twitch robotically to the side and his eyes seem to flash pink as he growls.

“You don’t know them! And look, we’re sorry if it looked like we were keeping you prisoner or whatever the hell you’re thinking, but we did that so you would be safe! So we would be safe!”

But Anti doesn’t seem to hear Marvin as he speaks. All he can hear is a slight ringing in his ears that threatens to get louder and louder. His vision glitches, as if he’s back under white suit control, seeing stuff the way they wanted him to see things. A white target seems to appear on Marvin’s face. A robotic voice whispers in his head, “Kill them. They’re enemies to your mission. They took away ——–. Destroy them. Serve Altera, SD-004.”

“Serve Altera,” Anti whispers under his breath as his eyes seem to droop. Marvin feels a chill go down his spine just as Anti roars and tackles Marvin, sending the two tumbling out of the cave into the open clearing.

“Anti! Marvin!” Chase screams, going to swim after them. Jamie is not far after him, still holding onto Jackie. Henrik starts to swim too but pauses and looks back behind him. He quickly reaches down and scoops up Marvin’s mask and follows after the others.

Anti sends him and Marvin straight to the ground in a cloud of sand before he rolls and tries to pin the other merman. Marvin coughs and his right eye twitches as the ringing gets louder in his ears. His second pair of eyes open up and Marvin feels his muscles start to go rigid. He growls and pushes Anti over, trying to hold onto control. But he’s slipping.

The boys tumble and roll across the ocean floor, each one trying to be the one that keeps the other pinned. But they’re equally matched. Soon, they lose track of where they are and find themselves tumbling down into another cave that leads almost straight down. It’s pitch black for a second before the space is illuminated by blue glowing mushrooms on the cave walls, as well as by Marvin’s eyes and Anti’s tails.

Anti manages to get the upper hand and slams Marvin’s head against the wall. Marvin’s vision wavers as the pain sends him into full warper mode. Anti blinks slightly as he feels the other boy go slightly limp in his grasp. Then there’s a blue clawed hand wrapping around his neck and Anti chokes, trying to scramble away. But Marvin’s grip is too strong as he stares blankly at his brother. Anti feels a current pulling on his back as a warp gate opens behind him. He starts to panic, his vision shifting between realities again. Voices in his head scream at him to fight back. Anti roars and grabs onto Marvin’s arms and quickly slams his head against Marvin’s.

Sparks explode behind Anti’s eyes as the two boys break apart, each holding their heads. Marvin’s breath hitches as his shoulders and head twitches. Anti grips his head against the pain, digging his claws into the dirt. He tries to spare a look at Marvin but finds himself gasping at the sight.

He sees a younger Marvin that has big crocodile tears in his eyes. One of his tails looks injured as he looks at Anti with fear. Tiny Marvin reaches a hand out to Anti, mumbling, “A-anti... I-i’m scared…”

Anti finds himself reaching out towards his little brother, a powerful urge to protect him surging through his veins. But then he’s shocked back to reality at the sound of rushing water and the familiar drone of a gate opening up. He barely has any time to react before a gate opens right where his tails just were. Marvin’s eyes burn pink as he growls and reaches up a hand to open warp gate after warp gate, trying to split Anti in half. Anti struggles to dodge the barrage, his mind still muddled from the memory that popped in his head and his conflicting commands.

Anti snarls, trying to force out something to say to the warper but the voices in his head won’t let him. Anti tries to dive with claws outstretched straight for Marvin’s face but as he does, younger Marvin flashes in front of him again. He hesitates and then Marvin is back on him pinning him to the ground and digging his claws into the kinks in Anti’s armor. Anti screams.

“Fuck, no!” Another voice echoes throughout the cave as a white blur flies past Anti and tackles Marvin to the side. Marvin struggles against what Anti assumes is Schneep but his vision is shifting too much to tell. Finally, as his eyes seem to focus Anti sees Henrik put the strange white mask Marvin had before over his head and almost instantly Marvin’s eyes are cleared of their pink glow. Marvin gasps and pants as he tries to focus in the dim light.

“H-Henrik…?”

Henrik gives a slight sigh and a bitter laugh before he gets off Marvin, “I tried to tell you that was a bad idea.”

Marvin gives a cheeky grin to Schneep, “but I proved a point didn’t I?” Schneep shakes his head and helps Marvin up.

“See Anti? Didn’t I tell you that-“ Marvin pauses as he sees Anti grabbing his head and breathing heavily as if he’s blinking stars out of his eyes.

“Shit-! Anti are you-?” Marvin tries to say as Anti sways on the spot and nearly falls over.

The warper catches him and Anti blinks unfocused up at him.

“I-I c-can’t… I d-don’t know w-what’s r-real…” he mumbles tiredly, the flashes of memories in his head still popping up and distorting his sight. He sees a flash of his brothers' concerned faces before they’re all replaced by white targets. He feels his muscles twitch, his claws itching to catch on flesh.

“I d-don’t k-k-know what’s true… w-what t-to believe! I-i-i,” Anti’s breathing picks up as the images in his head all melt together in just a swirl of colors and shapes and jumbled up noise he can’t understand. It’s too much, he can’t breathe, he can’t think. Then, like a monitor shutting off, it all fades to black.


	21. Hallucinations

It was dark and quiet. Almost peaceful. Anti had forgotten what that felt like. Well, he had forgotten so many things… his whole life was spent forgetting.

Anti felt something curl up against him and he weakly tried to open his eyes. First, it was dark, a calm cooling blue that stirred emotions inside him he wasn’t quite sure how to describe. But as he opened his eyes fully suddenly that blue burst into stark sterile white. Panic grips the sea dragon’s heart and he tries to startle upwards but his body won’t move. Of course, it wouldn’t move. He looks down to see he’s strapped down to a metal table like usual.

“Ah,” A cool female voice echoed in Anti’s ears as she brushed around his table, “You finally decided to join us, SD-4.” She leaned down her head, getting uncomfortably close to Anti’s face and he tries to flinch back but he still can’t move. “You gave us quite a scare there. Going rogue like that.” She pats Anti’s arm almost gently as she briskly walks past him and starts clicking away on some screens. Anti’s muscles tense tighter as the restraints threaten to cut off the circulation in his arms and tails. Anti tries to cry out but a breathing mask had been strapped to his face so his mouth is gagged.

“Now none of that,” The voice scolds, “Really… you should know better than to fight by now.” Anti hears the clicking of her shoes on the tiles and Anti flinches. He knows what’s coming, but that seems strange. He isn’t supposed to know. He’s not supposed to know anything. Nothing but what he’s told.

The female white suit hums out loud as she grabs onto Anti’s face and tilts it slightly, peering into his eyes. Anti tries to hold back his tears, his face so numb from fear he can hardly feel her fingers on his skin.

“Your little adventure to try to save SE-002 must have triggered some of your memories…” She muses as she leans in closer. “And you know we can’t have that…” She delicately takes her hand away from Anti’s face before she moves it up to his hair. She gently brushes it back, almost in a motherly way. But Anti knows it’s all a facade.

“Anti,” The woman’s voice suddenly booms, loud and commanding. The sea dragon’s blood runs cold. His entire body turns numb now. Any white suit saying his chosen name could only mean one thing.

“Say Goodbye.”

The second the last syllable leaves her lips, Anti’s eyes glaze over and everything fades away. He thinks about nothing. He waits for a command.

The white suit lifts her hand away from his hair with a cold expression as she sighs, “That’s better.” Anti numbly nods his head in agreement, and the white suit smirks. Anti likes not having to think. His head was too messed up. thinking just…

“Gets messy… doesn’t it SD-004?” The white suit finishes the thought in Anti’s head and he again nods ever so slightly. The white suit bends over and reaches under the table before she pulls something out and starts attaching it to Anti’s side. The sea dragon’s gaze wanders slightly as he blurrily sees familiar patches being stuck onto his scales. Long white wires extend from the patches and disappear into the swirls of color behind the white suit. A sense of dread Anti knows he shouldn’t be feeling settles in his stomach. His claws reach out and dig slightly into the table. But the metal actually gives underneath them, almost as if it’s not metal at all. No… it feels like… sand.

Anti wakes up slightly, jerking out of his tranced state with a quick exhalation of breath. The white suit’s head quickly turns and she frowns down at Anti.

“You are quite the trouble today, SD-4,” she says as she reaches out and grabs a remote with a huge dial on it. Her nails dig around the sides, preparing to turn. “But, we’ll get that little rebellious streak shocked out of you and then you can get back to work… doesn’t that sound nice?” Anti vigorously shakes his head, claws digging further into the sand-no, table. No-

Anti’s body seizes up as the white suit turns the dial, every inch alight with electricity. But instead of gritting his teeth against the gag, Anti actually hears himself yelling in pain. His eyes open and he knows he fucked up. He’s going to be punished. He can already feel the white suit preparing to dig her skinny little nails into his scar- or getting the scalpel and just tearing-

The screams just get louder and louder, Anti can’t stop himself and he can see the white suit staring at him. Her face is furious. Anti tries to scream, tries to apologize. No, no he shouldn’t say shit. She’s torturing him! She can’t do this- he already escaped-why is she-

Suddenly the white of the lab seems to evaporate into bubbles. The raging eyes of the white suit shift to soft blue concerned ones. Ones hidden slightly behind goggles. Henrik.

His face is joined by four others, all of his brothers staring down at him with fear or worry etched into their faces. The calming dark blue of their cave helps Anti’s heart to settle as he swallows against the rawness in his throat. His breathing comes out shallow and thin, his eyes moist.

“Anti,” Henrik whispers softly, afraid of startling the younger brother more, “Are you alright? Can you hear us?”

Anti coughs against the lump in his throat as he nods, “y-yeah…”

“What the hell were you dreaming of?!” Jackie questions, his arms getting too close to Anti. The sea dragon startles back, his nerves still feeling like they’re on fire.

“Fucking n-nothing…” Anti growls through gritted teeth. He catches a look of sympathy from Marvin. But it’s more than just pity. He looks like he understands exactly what Anti just saw. Anti shivers slightly at that.

“Henrik was trying to change your bandages,” Chase says gently, “When you started… acting strangely in your sleep. Then suddenly you tensed and started screaming and….”

Anti looks down at his side, expecting to see the patches. But instead, there are green seaweed bandages pressed to his scales. They feel cool and natural on him and he relaxes slightly. He’s suddenly so tired.

“Guys he’s still exhausted,” Marvin speaks up, “We should give him space.” Jamie looks like he wants to curl up next to Anti but the smaller brother keeps his distance.

Anti’s stomach ties up in knots at the thought of going back to sleep right now. And the thought of being alone. He quickly shakes his head and struggles upwards. The others look at him wide-eyed as he takes in their surroundings.

“You… you took me home…” Anti breathes. It’s exactly how he remembers it now. No white suit equipment. “You… you got rid of the stuff.”

“Yeah…” Chase laughs slightly, “We didn’t want you to be upset when you woke up…”

Jamie looks towards the back of the cave in longing. Jackie looks somewhat guilty, “We’re sorry we changed things while you were gone. We learned about so many new things… we wanted to make home a little bit better you know?”

“But we won't anymore,” Henrik assures, “Everything will be like it was…” He smiles gently at Anti but Anti’s face feels heavy. He stares back towards where Jamie is looking.

“I… you guys can do the… tree things or whatever. The growing box… “ Anti mumbles, “It’s probably better for Jamie and Chase... And Marv…” Anti’s voice grows a little distant, “You guys always got into trouble trying to find food…”

A gentle gasp erupts from behind him and Anti turns slightly to see stars in his brothers’ eyes.

“Anti!” Jamie whispers in glee.

“You’re remembering!” Marvin adds with excitement.

Anti blinks at them blankly for a second before he shakes his head and furrows his eyebrows together in confusion, “Did…did I say something?”

The boys’ faces all fall one by one. Anti still looks confused.

Chase sighs and lightly brushes past Anti to settle into one of the nests. “C’mon guys…we can work on all this in the morning.” The others all nod and gather round, piling on top of one another.

Anti feels drawn to the strange pile they’re making. He hesitantly swims over and hovers above them as they all settle in.

Jamie peeks an eye open and smiles at Anti, offering him a hand. Jackie pops his head up from behind him, “You wanna join Anti?”

Anti looks at Jamie’s hand and reaches to touch it. But suddenly he’s shocked with a memory of hot bodies and squeezing and suffocating and he draws backward his chest heaving.

“I…i don’t think I should,” Anti croaks. Jamie looks sad for a second but nods in understanding. Reaching over the others Jamie lightly pats the sand not too far from them.

“Don’t push yourself Anti,” Chase calls quietly, “But we’ll be here if you need us, okay?”

Anti nods, mumbling a quiet okay as he settles in the sand by their pile. Slowly, he lets his eyes close, listening to the cresting of the currents against the rocks. He had forgotten how soothing the sound was.

Yet a voice whispers in Anti’s ear just before he drifts asleep.

“You can’t stay away forever, SD-004….”  
\-----

Morning comes way too soon. Anti’s entire body feels like a ton of rocks as he struggles into a sitting position. He grumbles as he wipes the sleep from his eyes.

The cave is quiet. Too quiet…where were his brothers?

“Alone again….” A voice booms behind him, as if through a speaker. Anti shivers as he spins around towards the sound. The blonde-haired white suit looms over him as she makes her way towards him in her clunky wetsuit, the places where her boots meet the sand creating large billowing clouds from the weight. Anti staggers backward, his heart hammering in his chest.

“H-how did you find me?!” He whispers in terror, “Why are you here?”

The white suit ignores him and keeps surging forward. Anti’s back connects with the wall and he gasps slightly. Soon after the white suit grabs onto Anti’s face, tilting it painfully to the side. 

She hums in thought and grips onto his earlobe, pulling down on it. Anti yelps out loud, trying to push her away, but his limbs won’t respond.

“So,” She muses, “Your chips got removed… that explains quite a lot.” She shifts to grab onto Anti’s chin and lifts it up so he can stare up at her. She studies him quietly. “You’ll have to come back to the base soon then for replacements… You wouldn’t survive like this so far from home.”

Anto bares his fangs and snarls, “I’m already home. You can’t make me do anything anymore!” He extends out his claws and tries to calm down his shaking arms, bracing himself to attack her.

But then, the white suit chuckles. A deep sinister chuckle that shakes Anti to the core. She bends down and shoves her face in Anti’s, grabbing a fistful of his hair and yanking up.

“Oh, naive little sea dragon…” She nearly whispers. Anti feels pressure behind his eyes as he tries to force out a growl. “You really think I would ever let you go?” She chuckles again and releases him. Anti slumps forward for a second before bunching up his muscles and preparing to lunge.

“Anti, let’s say goodbye for now.”

The sea dragon’s body instantly freezes, his eyes wide as saucers. There’s a second where Anti is screaming in his head in confusion. That shouldn’t work anymore, the gauges are gone! But soon after thinking that the thought evaporates as Anti’s eyes turn yellow and glaze over, his shoulders falling limp.

He feels the footsteps of the white suit as she lurks around him. But Anti stays still, waiting for her to speak. Waiting for an order. That all he cares about.

“You don’t look very good SD-004,” The white suit comments, “You need to return to base immediately.” Anti shifts as if ready to get up but the white suit holds up a hand to stop him.

“However, we can’t have the other subjects getting in your way. Wait for them to return, then eradicate them.”

Anti nods curtly, a quiet robotic yes escaping from his lips. The white suit smiles, pets Anti’s hair as she strides past him towards the opening to the cave. “See you soon. SD-4.” And then she’s gone. Almost as if she vanished in a wave of bubbles. Not that Anti noticed. He stares blankly ahead, waiting for the other subjects.

There’s no way to tell how much time passed. It could have been hours, it could have been minutes. But eventually, Anti’s ears pick up the sound of movement. Rapid movement towards him. His shoulders are gripped by smaller hands. Locks of teal hair fall in Anti’s vision as he sees Jamie’s concerned face mouthing something at him. Everything fades to static and shifts to red as Anti roars and lunges at Jamie.

The cuddlefish hybrid is too fast though and easily squirms out of Anti’s path. The sea dragon snarls and quickly shifts, building up a fireball. Jamie’s expression hardens and he charges towards Anti and butts his head into Anti’s stomach. He’s caught off guard as the water in his lungs gets knocked out of him. Anti tries to lash out but one of Jamie’s tails wrap around his waist and suddenly he’s being thrown against the cavern wall. His head collides with the rock and sparks fly behind his eyes. Then he’s sinking into the sand.

The next thing Anti knows he’s blinking light out of his eyes as he’s being wrapped in someone’s arms, being shaken lightly. He struggles to focus and sees Jamie holding him up from the ground, a slight track of tears falling down his face. Anti sees Marvin and Chase peeking from behind Jamie’s shoulders, looking worried.

“J…Jamie…” Anti breathes, blinking more and more to orientate himself. “Did…did I do something in my s-sleep again?” The brothers all look at each other in concern, trying to find a way to respond.

“Anti…” Chase starts delicately but loses his nerve. Marvin pushes forward slightly. “Do.. do you not remember what just happened?”

Anti furrows his eyebrows together and frowns, “No... I don’t. That’s why I asked.”

More concerned looks to each other have Anti on edge. He quickly pushes himself out of Jamie’s arms and swims upward. “Would you guys quit looking at me like that?!” He snarls. “Stop looking at me like I’m falling apart! I’m fine!” Anti flicks his tail in anger and the others shift back, slight fear on their faces. Anti’s expression falls. He bites his lip and looks away.

“We’re just worried Anti…” Marvin eventually mumbles, “You… you’ve been through a lot.”

“‘M fine.” He growls.

“You attacked Jamie!” Chase shouts. Anti tenses.

“What?!”

“Just now! You tried to attack Jamie before he knocked you into the wall!” Jamie looks away guilty, rubbing his arm. Anti feels numb.

“I… I don’t remember doing that…” Anti grips his hair with a frightened expression, “I… I shouldn’t b-be… doing that anymore…” He sinks into the sand, looking haunted. Jamie takes a second before he pulls Anti into a warm hug and pets back his hair. The gesture should be comforting but it reminds Anti of something and he shudders, trying to pull away.

“M-maybe you just… thought you were somewhere else cuz we left you alone to sleep?” Marvin offers. “We didn’t mean to leave you alone for too long…”

Anti shakes his head, the bags under his eyes getting more pronounced as he sighs. “I... I dunno…” He rubs his ears where the disks were removed thoughtfully, “I’m… I’m still forgetting something. Something... Important.”

“I’m sure it’ll come back to you soon, Anti,” Chase encourages. “Until then why don’t we get you some food then you can rest some more!” Anti nods and huddles his tails against his chest. Chase and Marvin look at each other before Chase silently scoots their radio behind Jamie’s back so it just barely nudges him. Jamie looks back and sees Chase mouth to him “Watch him please?”. Jamie smiles and gives them a thumbs up. The boys smile back.

“We’ll go see how Jackie and Henrik are doing on the hunting then! Get some rest Anti!” Chase calls back to them as Marvin makes a warp gate out of the cave. As it dissolves into foam, the cave is plunged into a heavy silence. Jamie swallows, uneasy from the feeling.

Anti grips his arms tightly. So tightly he doesn’t even realize he’s breaking the skin with his claws. Not until Jamie stops him that is. Anti sniffles slightly, scooting away.

“‘M…’m sorry…” He mumbles quietly, almost too faint to hear. “I don’t want… to hurt you guys…”

Jamie gives him a gentle smile and curls up on Anti’s side, lightly resting his head on his tails. He reaches up and boops Anti’s nose with a cheeky grin.

“S’ok,” Jamie whispers,” I forgive you.” The cuddlefish then closes his eyes and lives up to his name, curling up by Anti’s side in the sunlight. Anti feels a slight smile tug at the corner of his lips in response. He leans his head back and looks up through the skylight, watching the waves on the surface pensively.

Something was wrong. But Anti didn’t know what. He only knew whispers and phantom touches and jumbled up memories. Someone pulling his strings…  
\----  
The sun is setting the next time Anti opens his eyes. But his expression is haunting. It’s blank and distant, his eyes glowing faintly yellow in the red-tinted water. He pushes away from where he fell asleep on the wall and swims over the sleeping form of Jamie, who hardly reacts to the shift. Silently, the sea dragon starts down a path that seems to be going to the nearest entrance to the lava zone.

Anti makes it through most of the safe shallows without trouble. But as he passes by the ocean’s arms base, the sound of a sea glide rapidly approaching him seems to wake Anti up just slightly. But only sightly.

“Anti!,” Zara breathes, a slight hint of fear in her eyes. She looks too wary to approach him too closely, but she tries to get as close as she can. “What are you doing out here?” Anti’s whole dementor sends shivers down her spine. He looks terrible. His skin is too pale, dark purple bags hang under his eyes. She can see the hints of blue veins under his skin. He barely looks at her as he swims past her and heads down the path she knows leads to the cave entrance of the lava zone.

“Anti wait!” Zara calls after him, revving her sea glide to go as fast as it can. She swerves around him, halting him in place. He growls slightly, robotically, and tries to push past her again. Zara reaches out and grabs the merman’s arm, “Stop!” she commands.

Anti instantly stills, his yellowed eyes flashing. He stares at her with a strange expression, almost as if he’s scanning her like a machine.

“I-Identify yourself,” Anti states, his voice wavering and raked with static. Zara swallows.

“Y-you haven’t met me yet but I know your brothers. They’re my friends. My name is Zara,” The girl calmly explains.

Anti’s eyes flash again. It takes a couple of seconds but soon after he drones, “Researcher Zara Caley… of the Altera arms.”

Zara pales, “Anti I’m not-”

Anti’s eyes glaze over slightly, “Orders from Chief Demerci conflict with current command….”

Zara blinks, “Demerci?” She shakes her head then grips a little tighter on Anti’s arm. “That doesn’t matter Anti! You’re not a tool for Altera anymore, you’re free now! You’re leaving your brothers behind!”

Anti’s eyes widen and the yellow tint fades slightly. But then it comes back even brighter as his eyebrows furrow and his head twitches to the side. “B-brothers... I-i don’t have... I.. need to be on patrol…” His expression turns blank again as he tries to break out of Zara’s grip, but he doesn’t seem to have much strength. Zara just yanks and keeps him in place.

“Anti! You have to remember!” She barks out, trying to sound as commanding as possible. Anti seems to think she was still a white suit.. Maybe he would listen.

The sea dragon freezes, his muscles tensing and twitching. His hands grip and ungrip as he grits his teeth, his eyes flashing back between yellow and normal.

“You’re scaring your brothers, Anti,” Zara pushes, “They’re worried sick about you! They’re doing everything they can to help you get better. I don’t know what’s making you like this, but you need to fight it! You’re not their puppet anymore! Fight harder, please! Your brothers can’t lose you again!”

The merman is bunching up his shoulders, his head twitching back and forth. His claws spring out then back in, over and over as the conflicting orders bang around in his brain.

“I-i-i i’m not- imnotsupposedtoremember, i-i have orders, i- do what i’m told- i,” He gasps, as if he can’t breathe, “b-but m-m-my br-brothers- brothe-s-subjects… p-protect subjects-subject SE-00… Jack- Jack-!”

Suddenly his convulsing stops. His head dips down and Zara loosens her grip slightly at the change in demeanor. Then a low growl pries itself from Anti’s mouth as he turns on Zara with pitch-black eyes.

“You!” He snarls, yanking his arm away with more force and freeing himself as he stalks closer to Zara’s face, “You have Jack. I know you do!” His hands spring out and latch onto Zara’s shoulders, stabbing her through her suit with his claws. She cries out and tries to push herself away.

“A-Anti! Stop!”

“You’re hiding him from me!” He roars, baring his sharp fangs and spraying hot water in her face, “I’m sick of you fucking white suits taking everything from me!!” Zara panics and manages to reach into her pocket and slashes her knife across Anti’s stomach.

The sea dragon yells out and lets her go and Zara pushes him backward with her feet to try to get distance. Anti pauses and brings a hand against his stomach and pulls it back to see red leaking into the water. He then screams out in rage and charges at Zara.

Zara cries out in surprise and quickly tries to dodge. Anti nearly claws through her air tank on her back but she manages to duck past his strikes. She slashes out with her knife and manages to slice into Anti’s arm as he reaches out towards her. He cries out in pain.

“Anti i don’t want to hurt you!” Zara calls out to him. Anti holds his bleeding arm against him as he seems to catch his breath. Then he giggles as his head twitches once more. He glares down at her with crazed black eyes, a terrifying grin on his face.

“Well ain’t that a shame,” He snickers,” Cuz I really wanna hurt you!” He laughs madly as he slices through the water at Zara with speeds she wouldn’t expect him to reach in his condition. She shrieks as Anti barrels into her and drives her into the ground. Zara gasps as she feels her oxygen tank dent on the impact. She knees Anti in the stomach and water seems to leave his lungs but he just pushes past it and shoves and pins her to the seafloor. He continues to giggle as Zara struggles against him.

“What would be the worst way for you to die?” Anti practically sings as he presses harder on Zara.

“Anti please,” Zara nearly sobs.

“I could carve out your lungs, oh wouldn’t that be fun?” He tilts his head to the side in a terrifying manner, his expression unhinged. “Or just add a tiny little leak in that pretty tank of yours… then tear off your legs so you can’t swim away to your friends for help. You can die here alone as water slowly fills you up.” Anti giggles more and more as he rakes down his claws down Zara’s arms, causing the girl to scream out.

“Oh, but I should just carve you to ribbons, just to hear you make such a pretty sound!” He cackled.

Zara feels tears well up and fall to the bottom of her mask. How was Anti still so strong? He looked like death warmed over! Anti digs his claws into her sides and Zara’s vision blacks out from the pain. Her lungs feel raw as her screams echo through the ocean. All she can hear is Anti’s haunting laughter filling her brain.

Then suddenly, with a loud roar, the weight of Anti is thrown off her as she can breathe. She gasps and quickly turns over, blinking spots out of her eyes to see what’s happening. A warp gate shakily dissolves in front of her and soon magenta armor and blue tails fill her vision. Marvin reaches down and scoops her up.

“Holy shit, Zara are you okay?” He panics, seeing how much blood is leaking into the water around her. She blinks unfocused at him and nods, trying to right herself so he won’t have to carry her but her body won’t respond.

“ANTI!” Jackie roars in anger as his body slams the sea dragon through the water. Anti lands on the seafloor in an explosive cloud of sand. Jackie dives and sinks his mandibles around his brother, keeping him in place but not piercing him. Jackie’s breathing is labored as he tries to keep his anger in check.

“Explain yourself!” He barks, “Where the hell were you going? What were you doing to Zara?!”

As the sand clears completely, Jackie can see Anti curled up with his eyes shut on the ground. Slowly, Anti moves his head and blinks up at Jackie, eyes stark blue and clear of black. Jackie gasps slightly at how sickly Anti looks all of a sudden.

Anti tries to push himself up but he faceplants back onto the ground, all fight and strength in him gone. Marvin surges forward with Zara as Jackie swallows, his anger fading at the sight of his brother.

The three gather around Anti as the sea dragon shudders as if he’s cold. Anti looks past them as if he can barely see them.

Marvin sets Zara down then swims to Anti and gently takes his hand. “Anti… anti can you hear us?”

Anti squeezes tight onto Marvin’s hand like it's a lifeline. He sobs slightly and grabs onto Marvin’s arm with his other hand, trying to pull himself up or pull Marvin closer.

“Voices…” Anti whispers, fear in his hazy eyes, “Voices are c-calling me…” His breathing hitches as he shakes more, “Don’t make me go back, please… don’t make me go- don’t let me go-”

Anti’s eyes suddenly roll up in the back of his head and he collapses in Marvin’s grip. Marvin is barely able to catch him before he falls back into the sand. Anti’s breathing comes out labored and broken, the dark dimming water making him almost look stark white with how pale he is. Marvin’s stomach twists with worry as he looks back at the concerned face of Jackie.

“Something is very very wrong…”

\------  
Anti was getting real sick and tired of sleeping at this point. It did no good. It only added confusion on top of his exhaustion.

When Anti opened his eyes he was met with deep darkness. That he somehow recognized. He got up and blinked sand out of his eyes. He felt awful. He felt as though his entire body had been pounded on by rocks. Then he got kicked through the sea by reapers. Then someone whacked a sea moth into his head.

Anti groans and tries to figure out where the hell he is. That was another thing he was sick of: waking up in different places.

“I… I know this place,” Anti breathes as he looks around. It was weird to say that about somewhere that looked like it was at the bottom of the ocean but something in his gut told Anti he had been here before. Anti squints as he thinks he sees something in the distance. Then he realizes it’s a person.

“Jack?!” Anti cries and quickly makes his way over to the curled up form of his brother. It was hard to move through the dark water but if Anti was anything, he was stubborn.

Eventually Anti makes it to Jack and he cups the older brother protectively in his arms. If Anti felt bad, Jack looked as bad as he felt. He was so pale and so thin. He had deep deep bags under his eyes, even though he looked to be sleeping peacefully. Jack looked so frail like one strong movement could snap him in half. Anti felt tears spring up in his eyes.

“Jack… Jack c’mon buddy… Wake up!” Anti urged, giving Jack a little shake. Slowly, the sea emperor’s eyes opened, but they looked glassy and distant.

“Anti?” Jack croaks, trying to turn his head. “Where…where am I? Where are we…?”

Anti opened his mouth to reply but it dies on his lip. He actually had no idea where they were. Where he actually was. Or where Jack was.

“I... I dunno…” Anti admitted quietly… "I… I haven’t seen where you are, outside that is.”

Jack tenses slightly in Anti’s arm, looking scared. Anti wasn’t used to seeing his older brother so shaken.

“Anti… I don’t recognize where I am… all I feel... I-is white. There’s a beeping of something. Something’s moving around me… there's tubes in my side.” Jack’s eyes widen more as he begins to shake. “B-but I can’t wake up! No matter how hard I try!”

Anti balks. “What does that even mean?!” He cries. Jack shakes his head and grips onto Anti’s arm as if to anchor himself.

“Anti.. please make sure I’m not back with the white suits… please, i-i can’t…” Jack looks sad as his eyes droop. Anti stiffens and shakes Jack more violently.

“Jack no! Stay awake, please! Don’t leave me here!” Anti despises how desperate his voice sounds. But Jack doesn’t seem to hear him as he falls limp in Anti’s arms.

Anti blinks and suddenly there’s sunlight blinding him. He winces and slowly digs his face in the sand. He picks up voices around him as they echo around the cave.

“Are you alright Zara?” Jackie says nervously, “There was so much blood…”

There’s kindness in Zara’s voice as she responds, “I’m okay Jackie really… Henrik’s bandages should be enough for now.”

“Ve really should have gone to Danan…” Henrik says with a sigh.

“No way!” Marin interjects, “With the way Anti is acting right now, the last thing he needs is more white suits.”

Anti can hear Chase sigh, “But clearly Anti is sick or something… can we really put this off? What are we supposed to do?”

There’s tense silence for a second as the others seem to think. Then Jackie’s voice pipes up, “We’ll have to wait and see.. We can’t have Anti injure anyone in the base.”

Anti grits his teeth quietly as he tries to peek out at his brothers. But his vision is so blurry and he feels dizzy just lifting his head slightly. What the hell was wrong with him?

“How sad,” A cool female voice whispers in his ears, “Your dear “brothers” don’t trust you anymore… “ Anti sees a white heel appear in front of his vision but he has hardly any energy to startle away. Or maybe he’s just numb to this bitch appearing in front of him.

“Go away..” Anti mumbles quietly, his voice slurred from his face being pressed into the sand. He hears the sounds of other figures rustling in the sand in front of him.

“Anti?” A voice calls, but Anti can’t tell who it is.

“You still refuse to listen ‘Anti’ dear,” The white suits says with disdain, “You must return to the base.”

“Never,” Anti growls weakly. He feels a cool touch on his shoulder but he can’t tell who’s touching him, a brother or the white suit. Everything is blurring together too much.

“I do have a bit of information that might entice you, my little sea dragon,” the white suit purrs before Anti hears her voice so close to his ear it’s like she’s in his head, “I have Jack.”

“What?!” Anti screeches, finally springing up, pushing himself up by his arms. Jamie, who was gently trying to shake him awake, startles away. Anti glares upwards at something. Something Jamie can’t see.

The white suits chuckles and pets Anti’s hair. He snarls and tries to move away but she tangles her nails in it.

“Did you really think we’d let someone as valuable as him get away? You failed Anti. You might have escaped us, but SE-002 never did.”

“That’s not….” Anti tries to argue. But then he remembers his dream before this. Jack said something about tubes and equipment. He pales.

The others start to gather around Jamie as Anti seems to be having a silent conversation with… Something.

“What’s wrong with him?” Marvin asks shakily.

“Perhaps it is a fever dream,” Henrik offers, but he doesn’t sound too sure.

“Should we stop him?” Jackie asks.

“Return to base, SD-004, and we’ll let you see your brother again. He needs you after all,” The white suit taunts. Anti doesn’t even stick around long enough to see her go. He’s already rushing out of the cave as fast as he can.

“Anti!” Chase cries and starts speeding after him. Everyone else follows after.

Anti clumsily swims over the shallows. He can’t see straight, everything is dissolving into swirls and blurs and he can’t stay upright. But he has to get to Jack. He has too.

Chase is calling after Anti desperately as he watches his younger brother swerve and tilt in the water. He nearly knocks into beds of coral and rock faces but somehow manages to right himself and start swimming with more vigor.

Luckily, Chase is the fastest swimmer. He manages to catch up to Anti after a while and quickly tackles his brother into the sand. Anti screams out and tries to force himself out of Chase’s grip but the older brother refuses to budge.

“Anti stop!” Chase encourages as softly as he can while battling an angry sea dragon, “It’s okay! It’s just us!”

The others catch up not long after and gather around Chase and the thrashing Anti.

“No!” Anti screams, “They have Jack! I have to get him!!”

“Who has Jack?” Henrik calls.

“The white suits!” Anti cries, trying to push away from Chase again, “They still have him! I f-failed they have him!!” Chase winces as Anti’s spikes dig into his skin but he continues to hold on.

“Anti, you got it wrong! The white suits don’t have him,” Marvin tries to reassure, getting closer. Anti has tears streaming down his face but he turns towards Marvin with a furious expression, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Liar!!” He snaps, quickly elbowing Chase in the nose. Chase cries out and lets go, cupping his now bleeding nose. Anti scrambles out from under Chase, but Marvin is quick to grab him.

“Anti whatever you’re seeing isn’t real! Trust me I know!” Marvin pleads, “The white suits are messing with you somehow. They did the same to me!” Anti looks conflicted and Marvin lifts his mask some, “You just have to trust us…Jack is safe I promise.”

Anti stares at Marvin with confused eyes, “Where is he?” He pushes. Marvin hesitates and looks back towards the others. Would telling Anti where Jack was send him over the edge?

The hesitation only increases Anti’s anger as he growls and butts his head against Marvin’s. He then shoves him away with a clawed hand and Marvin falls to the sand, quickly trying to keep a hold of his mask.

“I knew you were fucking liars!!” Anti screams, “I’m going to get Jack from those fucks and you can’t stop me!” Anti turns heel as Henrik and Zara gather Marvin in their arms. Jackie quickly swims up and gets in front of Anti, and Chase joins him too.

“We can’t let you do that Anti,” Jackie booms, trying to sound his most threatening. Chase holds up his hands, “Please Anti, we’re trying to help. We can’t let you go back down there.”

Anti backs up slightly, baring his fangs at the boys. He draws out his claws and flares out his fins, a crazed animalistic look on his face.

“Then die!” Anti snarls, some static mixing in with his voice, as he charges.

Chase startles back since he’s not much for fighting but Jackie quickly gets in front of him and decks Anti in the chin. Anti flies backward and touches his chin in confusion before he growls and builds up a fireball. Jackie barely has any time to shout before he grabs Chase’s tail and hauls them both down. A rock face behind them explodes in a burst of rubble and Jackie has to drive them both away from getting squished.

Anti prepares to dive after them but something sticks to the back of him, grabbing his arms and wrapping around his waist. Anti can see Jamie’s teal hair over his shoulder. Anti growls and tries to buck him off by Jamie stays stuck to him like a starfish.

“Damn it!” Anti growls, “Let go of me little pest!” Jamie shakes his head and quickly tries to mouth, “No! Anti jack is-” But finally Anti manages to buck him off and grabs him in a tentacle and sends him flying away.

“We gotta calm him down or knock him out or-,” Marvin mumbles, panicking slightly.

“Maybe if we just tell him Jack’s at the base then-” Zara offers.

“Nein!” Schneep snaps, “Then he could attack the base! We can’t endanger everybody.”

“We have to do something Schneep!” Zara argues, “Maybe it will calm him down enough that we can just talk?”

Marvin scoffs slightly, “Have you met my brother?” Marvin pushes up out of Zara’s and Henrik’s grip and adjusts his mask. “Hen, watch over Zara and I’ll try to corner him. He’s gotta tire out eventually.” Marvin then spurs up to join the fighting.

“Anti please stop!” Chase tries to plead but that just turns the angry sea dragon’s attention on him. Anti plows into Chase and knocks him against a rock, quickly grabbing his neck and squeezing. Chase gasps and tries to get Anti to let go but he’s digging his claws in.

“I’m sick of being lied to,” Anti spits through gritted teeth. He tilts his head to the side and studies Chase with a cold calculated look, “I could kill you, right now. It would be easy.” Anti giggles slightly and taps his head, “The voices are telling me to do it. She’s telling me too. They want me to not remember you. To not think of you as a brother.” Anti slams Chase’s neck up against the rock again, “How do I know they’re not lying too?! How do I know you’re really my brother?!”

“A-Anti…!” Chase chokes. Anti leans in, grasping his claws tighter and tighter till Chase can see spots in his eyes. Then suddenly the world shifts as a warp gate opens behind Chase. Anti quickly lets go so he doesn’t get sucked in but Chase tumbles through and ends up on his back, back down with Henrik and Zara.

Marvin growls at Anti as he closes off the warp gate. The sea dragon turns and snarls back at Marvin. Marvin feels a pit in his stomach looking at Anti. He’s breathing so heavily, so pale. He looks like he’s about to fall over.

“Anti, we don’t want to hurt you,” Marvin begs, “Just come home and rest and we’ll tell you everything.”

“No!” Anti refuses, “I just want everything to stop!” Big tears crawl into Anti’s vision, “I want the voices to stop! I want these feelings to stop! I want to see Jack! I want you all to stop looking at me like that! I want her to freaking shut up! I don’t want to kill you guys!” Anti grips his head and starts to shake. Marvin’s heart breaks.

“Anti just come with us, everything will be okay,” Marvin pleads.

“That’s what Jack said! He always said things would be okay BUT LOOK WHAT HAPPENED?!!” Anti screams, gripping his head tighter, “everything has gone to shit! The white suits took everything from me! And Jack’s… Jack…”

“Oh for god’s sake, Anti! Jack is back at the Ocean’s Arms base! He’s safe!” Zara shouts up to the boys. Marvin swirls around and Anti slowly lets go of his head and stares down at Zara.

“What?” He whispers nearly.

“He’s with other white suits,” Jackie offers as he helps Jamie over, “But they’re good white suits… they saved us. Over and over.”

“They can save you too Anti!” Zara calls again, “They can make you feel better!”

Marvin turns back to the conflicted looking Anti, “Anti, trust me. If you go down even close to the lava zone again... They’ll get you. We never want them to take you again.”

Anti takes a second to look at Marvin, really look at him. He then sighs and huddles his arms against his body, “I want... I want to believe you… but… i-i don’t know what’s real anymore…” He shuts his eyes and shakily exhales.

The warper merman gives Anti a gentle smile, “We can help you with that Anti. Everyone did the same for me… we can help you too.”

The sea dragon snaps up his head and bares his teeth, “Just take me to Jack!” He then blinks and adds a little more sheepishly, “…please.”

Jamie and Jackie come to join Marvin as Marvin gently extends a hand to Anti, “We’ll take you to see him, Anti.” Anti gives a hesitant smile and grabs Marvin’s hand. Then Marvin lifts up a finger, causing Anti to blink.

“One condition though,” Marvin adds, “After you see him, you’ll let us take you to get help.”

Anti frowns slightly and narrows his eyes before finally growling, “Fine.”

“And you can’t hurt anyone! Even if they’re white suits!” Jackie pipes up, Jamie nods vigorously in agreement. Anti purses his lips before biting out, “Fine!”

The boys all smile and lead Anti back down to Zara, Schneep, and Chase. Together, they all lead the confused sea dragon back to the Ocean’s Arms’ Base.

\-----

It takes a lot of coaxing to get Anti inside the base. He tenses up and refuses to budge when the brothers try to drag him through the entrance to their tubes. But with a quick reminder that it’s the only way he’ll see Jack, Anti reluctantly enters.

Zara waves the boys goodbye with a promise to meet up later. Jackie waves after her with a goofy smile on his face.

Anti had only been in these tubes once for a brief moment. It was a strange phenomenon to swim over a bunch of white suits, just observing them. Sure Anti had seen white suits milling about through brief glimpses out of windows, but never like this. Here was so open… so free. It was like they weren’t trying to hide anything. But even that seemed suspicious to Anti. Everyone had secrets.

The boys lead Anti through a confusing labyrinth that they navigated with ease.

“They have to keep him deep in the base so hopefully none of the white suits know he’s here,” Marvin explains gently as the path just seems to get longer and longer. Anti frowns but tries to focus on just keeping up. There was so much that was catching his attention though. He’s never gotten to see white suits just being… people before. Anti shakes his head at that thought. White suits weren’t people. They were monsters.

Eventually, the boys reach an opening next to what looks likes a blocked-off room. Anti almost smirks to himself, he knew they had to have secrets. But then the brothers lead Anti through the opening and suddenly there’s a window that shows what’s inside the closed-off room. Anti gasps at what he sees.

It’s Jack in the room. But the room is filled with air from the looks of it since a couple of scientists are walking about. Jack has a water mask attached to his face and his tails and submerged in a pool of water below where he’s being suspended. He’s resting on a long metal table that’s tilted upwards with lots of machines and wires hooked up to his skin. Anti recognizes one of the white suits working on him. It’s that dark-skinned woman that tried to talk to him before he escaped here. The woman sighs and brushes back Jack’s brown locks with a concerned face. Jack is so pale and thin, it makes Anti’s stomach drop. He looks just like how Anti saw him in his dreams.

Anti can’t stand to watch any longer and with a wild cry, he tries to throw himself against the window to burst his way to Jack. His brothers are faster however and they all manage to grab him and haul him down before he can do any real damage.

“Anti it’s okay!” Chase encourages.

“They’re taking care of him, I know it looks scary but what's keeping him alive!” Schneep advises.

Marvin gently takes Anti’s hand as he points towards the window, “Really look at him Anti… do you see any bandages or bruises? Any fresh scars?”

Anti looks to Jack and frowns, “….no…”

“Then you know they’re not experimenting on him… they’re helping him.”

“yeah! “ Jackie pipes up, “Danan says he’s in a co…. A co…?”

“A coma, Jackie,” Schneep replies.

“Yeah, that!”

Anti’s face grows pale, “What is that?”

“It’s a state of really deep sleep, I think,” Chase answered.

Ani growls low in his throat, “The white suits did this…”

Schneep nods, “That’s what we suspect… Jack once told us that the white suits needed him for something…” He gazes back a Jack with a sad expression, “He never explained for what though…”

“I know it’s not what you want to hear Anti,” Chase speaks gently, “But there’s nothing we can do for him right now… we just have to leave him be and trust that he’ll wake up soon.”

Anti bunches his hands into fists at the thought of leaving Jack alone.

Marvin quickly rubs his shoulder, “You can visit as much as you like..but now you should rest Anti. You look awful…”

The sea dragon grits his teeth, “‘m fine…” Then a series of shivers overtake Anti’s body and he has to lean back on one of his brothers to stay upright.

“That’s not really what fine people do, bro,” Chase laughs slightly.

Schneep smiles and swims over to the window, where he presses a button to what looks like an intercom. “Danan?”

The brown-skinned doctor turns towards the window then smiles and strides over. She too presses a button.

“Hello Henrik, hello boys,” she greets warmly, then blinks slightly when she sees Anti,” Oh my… “

“If you’re not too busy Doctor, we would like some help looking at what might be wrong with Anti,” Schneep sheepishly asked.

Danan quickly shakes her head, “No no, I was just wrapping up here. I can meet you all in the quarantine in a few minutes, I just need to put on my suit.” Danan then quickly turns heel and lightly pats her assistant’s shoulder and hands them her notes before she heads out the door.

The brothers all gather round and help Anti up, but the sea dragon does not look happy.

“She’s not gonna hook me up to anything is she?” He growls as the boys lead him back through the tubes to their new destination.

The boys are strangely silent and Anti growls more.

“It’ll be okay Anti,” Schneep quietly reassures. Anti doesn’t feel too assured.

They make it to the quarantine a few minutes before Danan comes in and Schneep leads Anti to the table and has him sit down. It feels weird for Anti to be in a lab-type room and not having to be tied down. Actually, it was weird for him to just freely swim into a lab. He felt shivers go down his spine. He doesn’t like this place one bit.

Marvin comes over and pats one of Anti’s tails, “Try not to worry Anti. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

Anti snapped, “The more you say that the more I don’t believe you.” Marvin struggles to come up with a response to that but luckily Danan then comes through the door.

“Hello, Anti!” She chirps as pleasantly as possible, “I’m glad you’re okay… well mostly.” She grabs a couple of tools from her supply and swims over to Anti, “I’m just gonna check some vitals to see if I can tell what’s wrong, is that okay?”

Anti bares his fangs at her and growls low in his throat but then a small warm hand takes his and he turns to see Jamie offering him a smile. Anti huffs and mumbles out an agreement to Danan. Danan quickly gets to work as Jamie holds onto Anti’s hand to help him keep still and calm.

After a couple of quick check-ups, Danan swims back and studies Anti with a frown. “I... I can’t quite put my finger on what’s causing this… it’s not a virus…it could possibly be a side effect of the trauma but I feel like this goes much further than that…”

Danan sighs, “Anti, I might have to sedate you to run some more tests-”

“No!” Anti yells, looking furious. Danan backs up slightly, her eyes wide.

“Anti-”

“I’m not sleeping! I’m not letting you poke anything inside me! I don’t want it!” He screeches, balling up his tails close to his body. “Find some other fucking way that doesn’t involve me blacking out.”

The brothers and Danan all exchange nervous glances.

“Anti, dear, I’m not sure there’s another way…” Danan gently explains. Anti just growls more and pries his hand away from Jamie and starts hiding behind the table. “I don’t care! You’re supposed to be so fucking smart! Figure it out!”

While Anti is arguing with Danan, Schneep quietly swims over to Danan’s desk and finds a sedative he’s used with her before. He breathes then locks eyes with his brothers. They all seem to get Schneep’s plan and nod his way. Marvin closes his eyes and focuses on opening a warp gate as quietly as possible.

But Anti is too observant. He notices Schneep out of the corner of his eye grab something. He sees the water as it shifts. He screams in rage and quickly bursts upwards to swim away back to the tubes.

Jackie, Chase, and Jamie all collide with him and tackle him to the ground though, even as Anti screeches and scratches.

“Let me go! I don’t want to sleep again! Let me go!!” He hollers. The longer he yells, the more scared he sounds. Jackie swallows a lump of guilt in his throat and Jamie tries to keep tears out of his eyes. Marvin quickly opens a gate behind the three then one behind Schneep so the stalker can do what he needs to do fast.

Schneep wastes no time sticking the syringe into Anti’s neck as soon as it’s exposed to him. Almost immediately the sea dragon’s movements begin to slow and his eyes droop. He looks pissed though. And terrified.

“I’m sorry Anti,” Henrik whispers as he pats Anti’s hair, “This is for your own good… just trust us.”

Anti looks ready to open his mouth to argue but his eyes droop completely and his head lulls to the side as the sedative sets in.

There’s silence as Marvin closes off the wrap gates and the brothers all gather around the now sleeping Anti.

“Well,” Jackie eventually pipes up, “He’s gonna be pissed when he wakes up.”

Danan gives a tense sigh, “I think you boys have a lot to catch me up on.”  
\-----  
It takes a couple of hours to run the tests on Anti, but once Danan is done she gathers the boys and Zara in the quarantine room to try to get some answers. Anti is sleeping peacefully in the corner, patched up and already looking better.

“So what exactly has been happening?” Danan asks. “Because Anti was perfectly healthy right before he burst out of here and now…” She sighs, ”You should have brought him to me sooner.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Jackie inquires sheepishly.

“He’ll be fine, but I want a little more context before I explain what I found.”

The boys all look at each other, daring someone to speak up first.

Marvin finally speaks up, “He was… angry, to say the least. He thought being kept here was just some way of keeping him prisoner again so we kept him in the cave. At first, it seemed normal. Like how I was when I first got back. But then... He started having really vivid dreams like he was seeing something he thought was real. He was screaming and…He wasn’t remembering well yet. Then one day we came home and he was just... Sitting there against the wall his eyes glazed over and yellow. And he attacked Jamie then didn’t remember it immediately afterward. Me and Chase left Jamie to watch him while we went to help the others get food for him and when we came back, he was gone.” Marvin looks over to Zara, “That’s when you found him right Zara?”

Zara shivers and rubs the bandages running up her arms.”Yeah… he had scary yellow eyes then too. He was swimming to the entrance to the lava zone and he refused to listen to me. Like he couldn’t hear me at all. But then I grabbed him and yelled at him to stop. And he did…he like… scanned me? That’s the best way to describe it.. And he recognized me as someone from Altera. Then he started to listen. But then he started twitching and mumbling to himself, like what I was telling him and what he knew were two different things. Then he attacked me cuz he thought I had Jack. He was terrifying... Laughing like… like…” She shakes her head then knits her eyebrows together, “He said… said before it all ‘current command conflicts with orders from Chief Demerci’… I’ve never heard of her before.”

Danan sharply inhales at ‘Demerci’ and all the others turn their heads towards her. Anti seems to frown and mumble in his sleep.

“Do you know them, Danan?” Zara asks.

Danan sighs and braces herself against the desk and sighs heavily, “Yes I know her.” She grits her teeth and looks furious, “Jezebeth Demerci….she’s a cruel animal researcher at Altera. She’s in charge of the welfare of the life we were researching… but she and Xander…. They started using our tools to cruelly experiment…” She looks at the boys with a soft expression, “That did end up making you boys… for which I am grateful but they didn’t see you as the wonderful sentient people you were and would become... You were just more playthings… that’s why we here all left.”

Jackie’s mandibles twitch in anger, ‘I’ll kill her for what she did to Anti!”

Danan looks furious again, “Jezebeth was always fascinated with the concept of… controlling others. Anti must have been… “ She sighs not able to finish her sentence as she takes a shaky breath.

“Well this explains quite a bit actually,” Danan explains, bringing out her notes from the tests, “His hallucinations and strange dreams, as well as his sudden fatigue, is all due to something we found in his system.

It’s a powerful toxin that got absorbed into his body, causing him to see things he thought were real. Most likely planted by Jezebeth herself… I’ve seen the results of this toxin before. As the toxins spread throughout the body the hallucinations can be controlled and programmed… most likely the hallucinations were telling Anti to go back to headquarters.”

“You’re… right,” A voice mumbles from the back. Everyone turns around to see anti struggling to sit up, blinking sleep out of his eyes. Jamie swims over and helps him up.

“Uh… hi Anti… sleep well?” Jackie laughs nervously.

Anti glares their way but merely scoffs and turns to address Danan,” I… I remember seeing her… d..Demerci.” He winces like saying her name was going to get him slapped, “She would appear in my dreams as if I was back in the lab… but things never made sense… she would just be able to walk over and talk to me. i-I could feel her as if she was really touching me… she kept trying to make me… do things..” Anti bunches up his shoulders and draws his tails against his chest, trying to stop shaking. Jamie comfortingly rubs his arms. “She convinced me she had Jack…”

Danan nods solemnly, “The toxins seem to have originated around your ears. I think they were released as a failsafe for if your chips were destroyed.”

Anto stares at Danan with desperate eyes, “What’s gonna happen to me now?”

The doctor smiles gently, “You’re free. I already removed the toxins from your body. Jezebeth will never be able to hurt you again.”

Tears fall down Anti’s face rapidly before Anti even has time to think. He whispers, “I… I’m free…?”

“Yes!!” Jackie exclaims and pile drives himself into Anti, hugging him tightly. Schneep and Marvin rush over and hug him too, Chase rushes over and gives a noogie. Anti actually laughs slightly, hiccuping in between his crying.

“There will be some side effect that you’ll need to watch out for,” Danan warns after letting them celebrate, “But… you have your brothers now.” She smiles so warmly, a hint of pride on her face.

She sets down her notes and starts to head for the door, “My professional opinion is that you all should go home and help Anti rest. Get him acquainted back to normal life for now.”

She grins once more at the boys, “I think you have a lot to catch up on. Take care of each other.”

Anti wipes at his eyes and blinks at Danan, “I… I don’t… I don’t trust you … but…” he gives a shaky smile though it looks more like a grimace, “…t-thanks... I guess.”

Danan just smiles and waves the boys goodbye.

The brothers all gather around Anti closer and hug him tighter. The sensation is still strange and foreign to Anti but for the first time in a long time… It feels warm, not threatening. He doesn’t want to leave.

“Welcome back home, Anti…” Chase whispers warmly into his hair. Anti smiles and closes his eyes, letting all his worries fade away.


End file.
